He Tells All
by Bishojo Beauty
Summary: Betrayal leads to a game of cat and mouse in which Tifa and Vincent find themselves thrown into. Within all of the chaos...can they find love?
1. Him

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these Final Fantasy VII characters, and such and such. This disclaimer goes for all the rest of the chapters following this one also.****

Quick note: I actually came back and revised! Well, I knew I was going to, I wasn't really satisfied with the quality of it. I was tired when I started, so I HAD to come back and make it better. Still the same story, though...no worries, I just made it sound better...****

**He Tells All**

by : Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 1

It was nearly all dark outside, and time for the street lights to work their magic, as the sun set down past the houses and shops of Nibelheim. A brunette occupied a table for two against the windows of a Nibeliheim café, which was known to the people as Ellie's. It was a rather large and busy café, well, more like large and busy for a small town like Nibelheim.

The owner, Ellie, seemed rather nice and mingled well with her guests providing friendly service, making the guests feel right at home. The café had somewhat of a homey feel, with the tables lit by candle, and large lush chairs and quiet chattering. She was all new to this, the brunette, who nursed a cup of hot tea, while looking out onto the old Nibelheim Mansion through the large window. She watched with scrutinizing eyes as the wind played an eerie effect of casting haunting shadows onto the mansion walls. Her breath blew into the cup's contents causing steam to curl lazily into the air and evaporate. The cups contents now cooler, she took a sip of the liquid, closing her eyes as the soothing liquid made it's way down her throat. The tea doing wonders to warm her chilled body from the Nibelheim weather. She was unused to this type of chilly weather, and her clothing showed it undoubtedly. She wore a thin white, long sleeved shirt, and a short dark coloured skirt. She expected chilly weather, but not so chilly.

She unconsciously tucked a strand of invisible hair behind her ear as a man of perhaps his 60s, perhaps even 70s, made his way around the table towards the vacant seat across from her.

"May I sit here?" The man asked, his voice scratchy and strained from old age. The brunette nodded without any hesitance, giving the elderly man a warm smile before resuming her thoughtful past time, studying the Nibelheim Mansion.

"There are no more seats in here and I am in desperate need of something to warm me up!" the man joked rubbing his hands together and smiling gently after a fit of cackles. The smile was returned without any thought.

"My name is Chester. May I ask yours?" The old man obviously was quite the talkative one. His eyes held a naturally curious glint in them. The brunette quickly shifted her attention back to the man across from her. Smiling, she introduced herself also, "My name is Tifa Lockheart." The man nodded in acknowledgment and he too then turned his head back to look at the Nibelheim Mansion.

"...of AVALANCHE," Chester finished for her, turning back to Tifa and regarding her with a pair of wary cold eyes.

"Yes."

"So you know him?"

"...Who?"

"Him," the man turned away from the window and nodded to someone from behind Tifa. Tifa turned her head over her right shoulder towards the walkway that extended towards the entrance of the café and was greeted by a very familiar sight dressed in shadows.

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A very short chapter indeed....That's why I uploaded two! Well, I'd really like some feedback about how my fic is progressing so far. I'd love to hear what you guys think about it. Especially if you have something to say about improving it. Thank you for reading if you've read down this far.... 


	2. A Question

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 2

At first, it was shock. And then it settled into small startle, and finally realization.

"Vincent!" Tifa exclaimed drawing the attention of a couple in the room who no sooner turned their attention back to whatever they were doing once they caught a glimpse of the other man's bloody glare.

Tifa jogged the few steps needed, and jumped in excitement wrapping her arms around the tall man's neck causing him to step back in order to remain upright. Vincent grew tense at the closeness of the other AVALANCHE member and his hands immediately, automatically, flew up to wrap around the upper arms of Tifa, prying her arms from around his neck. His claw was ice cold, seeping through Tifa's thin shirt, but his flesh hand was fairly warmer. Tifa let go immediately as she realized who exactly she was hugging, smiling sheepishly to herself as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, drilling her foot into the floor.

Close contact was definitely not the other man's preferences, confirmed by the discomfort written across his eyes. Tifa quickly distracted herself to avoid him from seeing the blush that chose to creep up onto her cheeks. She had no doubt that he had probably seen it anyway being as observant as he was, but it was definitely worth the try she figured. She picked up a stray chair from the side of the café and added it to the only remaining side of her table, as the other side sat nestled near the wall. She turned smiling to Vincent expectantly.

At first he made no move to indicate that he was going to join her, he hesitated, his features remaining unreadable. Tifa observed that it was very unlike him to hesitate so, but she ignored it having her day made by seeing an old friend since three years. He made his way over to the table and unexpectantly pulled out Tifa's chair. Tifa immediately assumed he preferred a more secluded seat, away from the walkway, so she made her move to sit in the extra chair she pulled earlier.

But Vincent's soft voice stopped her. She turned to look at him and noticed his small gesture towards her previously occupied spot. A small "oh," escaped Tifa's lips as she understood.

"Thank you, Vincent," she said as she sat down smiling up into the collar of his cloak instead of his face. He seemed to nod slightly from behind the high collar of his cloak, and took a seat in the third chair. Tifa took the short amount of time available to study what she could see of Vincent's features, his eyes. They were deathly tired. She then noticed too that his whole body language spoke of exhaustion, the dark bags under his blood red eyes only accentuated his condition. He was at the moment glaring suspiciously at the elderly man who now had a cup of hot cocoa sitting in front of him, a gentle smile playing on his lips.

"You haven't aged one bit, Vinnie my boy," Chester said, his gentle smile slid into a more sly smile. Tifa's brows raised at his statement.

"You have yet to be educated on how to silence yourself," Vincent responded monotonously, taking his eyes away from Chester, and resting them onto the table in front of him.

If Tifa's brows could raise any higher, they would have done so as she looked back and forth between the men. _Vincent knows this old man? _Tifa thought. And as if the elderly man could read her very thoughts, he spoke, "I was also with Shinra Manufacturing in Administrative Research."

Tifa still could not believe what she was hearing. Somebody actually knew Vincent from when he was a Turk, working for Shinra. Or as they seemed to like to call it, Shinra Manufacturing in Administrative Research. She just couldn't believe it.

An awkward silence fell between the trio, but was broken with out a problem by Chester. The elderly man seemed too stress free to be true, but it was.

"What's with the Hallowe'enish get up?" He asked, lifting his wrinkled and aged hand to tug at the collar of Vincent's cloak. He jerked back reflexively, brushing the elderly man's hand away gently while giving him a warning glare. Chester sighed, slumping his shoulders as he leaned in to take a drink from his cup. Shaking his head, he turned his attention towards Tifa. But before he could speak, Vincent cut him off, once again, another act that was very unlike him.

"How have you been, Tifa?"

"I've been good, how about you, Vincent? I, or anyone else, haven't heard from you since we parted ways! It would have been nice if you'd at least let one of us know that you were doing fine, that you were still here on this Planet!" Tifa let out her frustration on the dark man. She had spent one too many of her days thinking about his well being, knowing that it was very possible that he could have crawled back into the very coffin Cloud had sprung him free from.

She waited, at first patiently for a reply, but when none came, she let up a puff of air, and set her chin in her hand, thumping her elbow onto the table, all in one fluid motion. This caught Vincent's attention she now noticed as he glanced up towards her from whatever had caught his attention so intensely on the surface of the table, his eyebrows slightly raised. He must have drifted off during Tifa's little outburst. She frowned slightly turning her eyes down onto the table as well. She felt Vincent stiffen, clear his throat and then shift uncomfortably in his chair. Something was bothering him, but Tifa knew better then to ask, but she would do no better by just to observing.

Tifa cast her attention towards the now surprisingly silent Chester, creases of worry appearing on his face as he studied Vincent.

"What happened to you when you disappeared, Vincent?" It was one simple question posed by Chester who seemed truly worried, but it seemed to trigger something inside Vincent, as he got up abruptly, nearly knocking his chair over, but he was able to catch it and steady it before he bolted out of the café.

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Chester, well, unfortunately, didn't have a very big role in this chapter, but I promise you that he will next, considering that yes, Vincent ran away, and Tifa has lots of questions!

Once again, whether you liked it or you hated it, I'd like to hear from you so I can write better. Thanks for reading again!

Bishojo Beauty.


	3. Picture

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 3

Tifa was frozen in place, her head turned towards the now closing door of the café, her brows creased with lines of worry. She turned over to the aged man before her, and noted his gentle smile, and she wondered whether he had seen Vincent's abrupt retreat at all.

"I think it's best I leave now. I'm sorry for my friend's behaviour," Tifa spoke politely, dropping some gil onto the table. The man noticed that it was more than necessary, and shook his head.

"No need to be sorry, young lady. You should not feel the need to apologize for what he chooses to do. He is not your responsibility," Chester stated as he slowly got up, picking through the gil and handing the extra amount back to Tifa.

"There is also no need for you to pay for me," he said, pressing the gil into Tifa's hands, squeezing her hand gently closed as he made his way for the exit of the café. She noticed then that he walked with a cane, his right leg seemingly quite unstable.

Everything seemed to burn from within. Vincent stumbled a couple of times as he sprinted through town, hiding in the shadows, pumping his arms as legs, hoping to the higher powers that he would make it out of the town in time. He always did, and always in the nick of time, and yet the instabilities of his transformations had him doubt himself every single time.

Vincent concentrated as much as he could on meeting with the large rock that stood at the first corner of the mountains, but his concentration was divided unevenly as Chaos swarmed into his mind, coaxing Vincent to relinquish his control and let the barbarous beast take it's form. Just as Vincent made it past the first twist in the Nibel mountains his legs gave out from under him, no longer able to withstand the weight of his upper body.

His body had already began to alter to better accommodate the beast, Vincent feeling the routine sickness and dizziness that overcame his body before the beast within him begins to take form. He felt the wings of Chaos begin to form and attempt to tear through his back, one scratch at a time.

They came as waves of pain, the demon inside working at a beating pace that grew more frantic and intense as Vincent lost more and more control. Which was something of Vincent's that seemed to be continuously growing smaller by the days, perhaps even the hours. He transformed more often by the week, and sometimes for reasons he did not know of. But he transformed nonetheless. Now, he had lost control. In one hot searing white flash of pain, Vincent was Chaos.

And for once in his life since waking from his coffin, he was terrified.

Tifa exited the café, stopping at the café steps in attempt to gather her thoughts and decide what her next choice of action was to be. She scanned her eyes left and right, down and up for any signs of Vincent. Even the old man seemed to have disappeared despite his handicap slowing him down.

"He won't be found if doesn't want to be," Tifa spun around to face the speaker, already knowing it was Chester by the familiarity of his scratchy voice. He was leaning against the café wall next to the exit. _I must have missed seeing him on my way out, _Tifa thought, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. Tifa nodded in agreement to Chester's statement, hanging her head low to the ground in defeat. She knew she was not going to find him tonight, she's been looking for three years, and tonight was going to be no different.

"You must be cold. I have some of my daughter's old clothes still left at my place. Come, an old man like me could use the company," Chester smiled up at Tifa as he walked unsteadily down the steps, supporting his right leg. Tifa, on impulse, grabbed for the elderly man's left arm, helping him down the steps. He spoke his thanks on his way down, and continued to blab on about his daughter having left home for a job in another city as they made their way to his home.

Tifa wasn't sure why she followed him, she had her own clothes, and her own warm house to return to. But the true reason to her uncertainty was because she didn't want to believe what her true intentions were telling her. This man knew Vincent, a Vincent that was unknown to Tifa. And Tifa was curious.

By the time they reached Chester's house, Tifa was chilled from her head to her toes, her teeth chattering, but she held her jaw tense so the elderly man would not hear or notice. He opened the door with clumsy hands, and ushered her in from behind. He led her to his living room and motioned for her to sit down.

"You wait right here, I'll go grab something warmer for you to wear, and perhaps something warm for you to drink also!" Chester exclaimed, flicking his hand with his index finger out in an excited gesture. As he left the room, Tifa took in her surroundings. It was a rather small home, she noted, the living room felt quite congested with two sofas, and an ottoman, but it still felt welcoming. There was a television set in the corner of the room, and a fireplace, seemingly unused, on the wall next to it. Atop the fire place held many pictures. Tifa always loved pictures.

_Curiosity killed the cat. _A little voice in the back of Tifa's head told her. She smothered this voice with little trouble and got up from her spot on the sofa to examine the pictures. The largest was a picture of who Tifa figured was Chester's daughter. She was a beautiful blond, and looked to be quite a well-rounded person as there was a framed certificate next to her picture claiming excellence in some sort of field in science. Moving on, she noticed many more family photos, but one photo in particular grabbed her immediate attention. It was a picture of four men, all in blue suits.

Tifa gasped in surprise at her discovery, and leaned forward towards to the picture in hopes that she would get a glimpse of Vincent from his years as a Turk in this picture, a smile playing upon her lips in anticipation. The men in the picture however, held no resemblance to Vincent at all. Chester was in the picture, though, she noticed, with an awkward expression on his face. He was smiling, but it looked out of place, they all wore the same expression, standing a distance away from each other.

Tifa looked closer at the picture, which was slightly crooked, and noticed that there was another picture behind it. At first glace, one would think that there was the only one picture in the frame as the second one seemed to be have been taken from the same place, but different time of the day. Tifa took a quick glace around the room to make sure Chester hadn't returned yet, and identified the creaking of floorboards to be coming from the floor above. So she cautiously took hold of the tiny frame, and pulled it out from behind the rest of the pictures where it lay half hidden being careful not to knock over the rest of the picture, which would create quite an unnecessary scene. Dropping back comfortably into her previous spot on the couch, she started her simple task of opening the frame to see what lay hidden underneath that first picture.

Her hands began to tremble in excitement as she pulled off the backing of the frame. Reaching in, she pulled out the hidden picture. There were five figures now, and they were huddled happily together, smiling towards the camera man. One man even seemed to be trying to say something, and was captured by the camera, his mouth wide open. They all looked happy.

Tifa examined the fifth character who stood in the middle, with his arms around the necks of two of the men. He had dark hair, and well defined features. He looked awfully like the Vincent she knew today, but there was something different, but she couldn't exactly put her finger on it, the picture unfortunately wasn't the best of quality. Tifa started as she heard the clinking of china from the kitchen behind her. She fumbled with the picture as she attempted to place it back into the frame, but she heard footsteps approaching before she even had a chance to lift the frame, so she improvised, shoving the picture and it's frame under the nearest cushion on the sofa.

Smiling her thanks as Chester made it over to the living room handing her a cup of hot cocoa and some warm clothing, she accepted her cup and sat in uncomfortable silence, sipping her cocoa before she pulled on the white turtleneck sweater. She traced the designs on the knitted shirt, and was about to comment on how large of a fortune this sweater must have cost, but had no chance.

"And I thought I was nosy," Chester laughed, pointing towards the seat cushion where the corner of the frame that Tifa attempted to hide peeked out from underneath. Tifa didn't know what to say, so she just ducked her head down, tucking her hair back behind her ears as they fell forward with the motion of her head. Sighing, she set the cup down and reached over to pull it out from underneath the cushion, apologizing as she put the picture back into the frame.

"No need to apologize! I can sympathize with you, I was always the curious one, getting the rest of the group in trouble," he laughed again. Tifa couldn't help but laugh also, finding that the elderly man was very easy to get along with. He had not a single worry, and nothing seemed to change that no matter what came his way.

"I don't believe I have many pictures of your friend. He wasn't with us long you know," Chester said, standing and searching around underneath the ottoman, pulling out a few select photo albums.

"He was quite elusive towards the camera man, I'll have you know," he stated looking up at Tifa laughing with his eyes.

"There's this one isn't there?" Tifa asked, pointing at the frame she held in her hands. Chester leaned forward to study the picture atop the second one and shook his head smiling a toothy smile.

"Oh, no, no no. That's not Vincent," he paused letting out a hearty laugh, "that's his brother."

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Thanks for reading everybody, and thanks for all of the encouraging reviews! I write for those who review, you guys keep me going! I like how my story's going so far too. I hope you guys do too! 

Well....actually, to tell you all the truth, this chapter would have came out MUCH sooner, but...

I was worried with Vincent's transformation...I didn't want to write in too much detail, and like totally freak people out...so it was hard

And then, I just plainly wasn't quite satisfied with how it may effect the rest of the chapters....but I think I have it worked out...hehe, just gonna take it one chapter at a time...

Bishojo Beauty.


	4. Blood

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 4

Tifa was afraid she was going to go mad from all the surprises she had experienced in just one day. Her jaw dropped as soon as her brain registered exactly what the elderly man had said, and her eyes widen as she observed the man as he laughed his heart out. She wasn't exactly sure what the man was laughing at, at first, but she assumed as he pointed several times in her direction at her face during his laughing bouts that it was at the expression she held on her face. Finally bringing her jaw back up, and closing her mouth, straightening her lips into a thin line, she cleared her throat and crossed her arms across her chest.

"It's not that funny," she said defensively. Chester let out one more explosive round of laughter before he seized his laughing and fell into low chuckles resuming his search for a picture of Vincent.

"So, Vincent had a brother..." Tifa said out loud, hoping that if she heard herself say it, it would help sink in. "Was he older than Vincent?"

"Oh, yes. I'm not sure by how many years, maybe three," he paused thoughtfully, tapping a finger against his chin.

"What was his name?" Tifa asked, leaning forward and picking up a photo album for herself from the pile that the elderly man had created on the floor by his feet.

"Kael...Now, he was quite a character, always thinking about others instead of himself, even though you'd think all of us Turks would be cold-hearted mindless bastards," though the comment was harsh, the old man still seemed to speak of it lightheartedly.

"He joined the Turks only in an attempt to support Vincent and his studies. Vincent was quite intelligent for his age, and Kael saw that, so he did the only thing he was best at, and that was fighting, to make money," Chester paused, pointing at a picture in the photo album of Kael and himself. They looked close, Tifa observed, edging to the edge of the sofa to get a closer look. Vincent and his brother held very similar physical characteristics, but from what Tifa could get from the picture's story, Kael was very different from Vincent personality wise. Or at least from the Vincent she knew now.

"They cared for each other, you know, with no one else, they kind of had to," Chester sighed, getting a faraway look in his eyes. They continued to look through the rest of the albums in silence, Chester falling deeper into his daydream, and Tifa becoming afraid to speak and break the silence. Soon they reached the last album, and Tifa reached for it, but was stopped when she felt Chester's hands on top of hers.

"That's Kael's. He left it with me. The rest were mines, and," he paused to chuckle, "he refused to let me have any pictures of Vincent, knowing how camera shy he was...and how much he hated pictures and all..." Chester drifted off again. _Why then did we go through the rest of the albums if he knew Vincent wasn't in them? Kael himself was barely in them too..._ Tifa wondered, but refused to voice her thoughts in case she would offend Chester's decision. She had no doubt that he would not mind if she did question him, but still. Cautiously she picked up the album and walked over to have a seat next to Chester on the other couch. Placing the album in his hands, she watched as he ran his fingers across the cover of the album, brushing at the nonexistent dust on it's cover. He turned to Tifa suddenly, pinning her with his stare.

"Things changed when he left us....They changed a lot," he stated finally, tearing his gaze away from Tifa, and opened the cover of the album slowly, warily, his mood swing noted. And truthfully enough, it was Kael's, as it held pictures of both him and Vincent.

Tifa couldn't help but feel as if she was intruding, but then again, Chester had invited her to look. The first couple of pictures were of two young boys in their teenage years, presumably Vincent and his older brother. They both did not smile much in those pictures. As they flipped through the pages together in silence, the boys grew older right before their eyes. They smiled more often as time progressed, and they seemed to live off of each other, inseparable in the pictures, one glued to the other. A couple more pictures and they were grown men, Kael in his Turk uniform and Vincent with thick, and seemingly very heavy books in his arms. Vincent's smile was something she didn't expect from him. She couldn't help but stare mesmerized by his good looks, the very looks that lay hidden beneath his cloak. He was very good looking, Tifa had to admit to herself.

Vincent held more of the exotic looks, untouchable and delicate features, as opposed to his brother who had a more commercial look. Vincent's hair was much shorter than the length that Tifa was familiar with. But still long compared to his brother's spiky mess. Tifa became captivated by one particular picture which was a close-up of both Vincent and Kael. Though they both looked stunning in all the other pictures, this one picture seemed to capture something the others could not. Vincent's smile was a small curve of the lips showing little if not none of his teeth, as opposed to his brother's, a little quirk to one side, with perfect teeth visible. Kael face hovered protectively over Vincent's left shoulder, while his right arm hanging of Vincent's other shoulder. Vincent didn't seem to particularly mind, unlike how he probably would today. _Wait...but how would I know what Vincent minds or not? It's not like we were very close during our AVALANCHE days. _Tifa shook her head to put a sudden stop t her thoughts, and just as suddenly, the pictures ended. The rest of the album was filled with blank pages.

Chester sighed then, a mournful sigh, and for the first time, his real age became apparent as Tifa looked into his eyes. Eyes that spoke of sadness and pain from seeing images that no human should ever have to see. The sympathy that Tifa felt for him, she knew, would never be enough to cover all that he has experienced. She had no idea how life as a Turk may have been, but it did not seem pleasant. It was a life that you lived to take lives.

Tifa placed a comforting hand on Chester's shoulder. She had to know one thing though, and despite how much it may hurt Chester, it may be the key to unlocking the man that is Vincent Valentine. She just had to know, so she asked with great caution.

"...what happened to his brother, Chester?" Tifa questioned, her eyes searching his. Chester had flipped back to the last page, and sat looking at the last picture with some sort of sadness in his eyes.

"I'm not sure. Vincent, he-" Chester stopped suddenly, and sat up straighter in his spot as if he remembered something that he had forgotten earlier. Sad eyes rested on Tifa.

"I am sorry..." he paused, "...but this story is not for me to tell," he said finally. Tifa couldn't help but feel disappointed. She wanted to persuade Chester into telling her so badly, but that would mean she would be disrespecting Chester's wishes and Vincent's privacy. Tifa would never be able to do such a thing to her friends. Just as sudden as Chester started and stopped his story, Tifa remembered that Vincent had ran off earlier. She figured that it was probably best if she went to find him incase something was dearly wrong. But it was wasn't as if something might be wrong, Tifa felt it in her gut that something was wrong. _Call it women's intuition, _Tifa figured.

"Oh, yes, I should probably be leaving now, anyhow. Thank you for everything, I'm sorry if I've troubled you at all, Chester," Tifa said, as she leaned over and gave the elderly man a warm hug, which he returned equally as warm. They spoke the rest of their goodbyes as Tifa headed towards the front door. Soon, Tifa was once again blasted by the cool air of Nibelheim, but thanks to the sweater that she now donned, the wind was not as chilling to the bone as it was earlier. Vincent's sudden retreat had now really sunken in, and had Tifa very worried.

She made her way quickly to the Nibelheim Mansion, hoping that she would find him there. The front door seemed much more intimidating up close than it did from a distance. Raising her knuckles up to the door to knock, she hesitated. _What if Vincent didn't want to be bothered? _The 'what ifs' continued, spiraling in Tifa's head until her head seemed to hurt. Scolding herself for letting her uncertainties get to her, she raised her hand once again, giving a few strong raps on the large door. She waited patiently for Vincent to open the door. But he didn't. She waited a while longer before she tried calling his name through the door. When that also failed, she tried to find a way into the house, walking around, through shrubbery that scratched her legs and arms, and caught her hair. She kept her eyes scanning for any possible danger, and jumped into alert many times unnecessarily as the shadows tended to play cruel tricks on the mind. With each step, the beating of her heart in her chest grew louder in her ears, her breathing quickening. Tifa tightened her gloves as she finally made it to the back of the mansion, and found a rather dark trail of liquid running in a jagged path towards the back door, a little pool forming in front of the door before trailing off underneath it and into the building.

Tifa couldn't help but be frightened of what it meant. A strong wind gushed towards Tifa sending chills down her spin. She got a strong whiff of something with that sudden gust of air that she absolutely despised, almost causing her to gag. It was blood. _Could Vincent be hurt? _Tifa immediately sprung into action, kicking the back door open with more force than necessary as it flew open and banged against its adjacent wall. She ran into the building carelessly allowing her defenses to drop dangerously low. Almost slipping on the blood on the worn hardwood floor, Tifa grabbed at the edge of a counter in what seemed to be a kitchen. Reality struck her then and Tifa regained her senses and raised her fists to fight of potential danger. She examined her surroundings. It was certainly a kitchen she was currently standing in, and as she looked around she found...nothing. The kitchen was very bare and held just a small table and one chair. Taking a few deep breaths, Tifa continued on.

Cautiously, she followed the trail of dark liquid up the stairs, noting exactly how much there was. Tifa closed her eyes for a moment when she reached the closed door where the path continued on, and prayed that Vincent was okay, if it was even Vincent she would find in that room. Her heart beating quickly against her chest and booming in her ears, her body pumped with adrenaline, and her knees weak from fear, Tifa reminisced about the last time that she had felt this way. It had been so long since she felt so, and it made her feel on edge. Anything could happen. It was a familiar feeling.

Slowly and carefully she reached for the doorknob, turning it and trying to make as less noise as possible. It opened with a loud creak, but nothing seemed to move from inside that Tifa could hear, but Tifa also knew how quietly Vincent could actually be if he wanted to. Tifa tried to scan the dark room, but her eyes weren't adjusted to the darkness just yet. The hallways were much brighter, thanks to the moonlight that seeped into through the windows, than it was in the room. Seemingly heavy curtains covered the only window in the room, but luckily a thin line of moonlight was able to shine through a slight part in the curtains. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the darkness somewhat, allowing her to see the form of a figure on the bed. She listened carefully holding her own breath and heard shallow breathing. Tifa let her own breath out at this moment in a quick puff of air in relief and as silently as possible, made her way back to the kitchen where she saw some candles earlier.

Grabbing them, and making her way back up, the mansion seemed much less intimidating in light, as before in the darkness that seemed to choke the very life out of her. Slowly, she made her way into the room where Vincent slept. Or at least she hoped it was Vincent. Step by step, the floor boards creaked under her weight, some louder than others. Tifa paused as she hit a particularly loud one, and she waited for the figure to stir, but surprisingly the person continued to still sleep soundly.

Placing the candle down onto the worn out wooden night table that stood on the right side of the bed at head of the bed, she turned to examine the figure. It was obviously a man, there was no doubt about it, who had a mane of long jet black hair. _Very Vincent like, _Tifa smiled, the man however was sleeping on his stomach, seemingly as if he had just fallen onto the bed and fell asleep right then and there. He wore tattered clothing with rips here and there. _What happened to you, Vincent? _The question hung in Tifa's head, unanswered.

Taking a deep breath, Tifa moved her left hand around the face that was turned away from her to peel the dark hair back to reveal who she didn't really doubt was Vincent. But she had to make sure. Her mind just wouldn't stop nagging her to do so. Tifa marveled at how silky smooth the strands were as she ran her fingers through the strands, pulling them back behind the figure's ears to reveal that it was Vincent. Tifa wanted to laugh at herself for even thinking that there was a possibility that a person like this couldn't be.

Being tempted, Tifa stroked her fingers once again through his hair to reveal more of his face. He had no cloak Tifa noticed as she finally beheld the bottom half of his face, which could be summed up with only one word, Perfect. Tifa slowly took in his soft features as he slept, his lips slightly parted as he breathed, somewhat erratically however, his fine brows with a perfect arc, unfurrowed in his sleep. _Any woman would only dream to have such perfection in the face, let alone being lucky enough to have it as a man, _Tifa thought, amusing herself.

Suddenly Vincent stirred, letting out a quiet grunt as he shifted his position on the bed, placing the rest of his body more comfortably onto the bed. Tifa watched as he cuddled into a ball like shape in the thick blankets, totally oblivious to Tifa in his sleepy state. _Was this the Vincent that she saw in the pictures? Cute... _ Tifa pondered as she watched Vincent settle into a comfortable position. He was comfortable, but there was something very irregular about the way he slept. He looked comfortable in the bed, his hair falling in waves around his body, but something was different. And suddenly she realized and scolded herself for being so ignorant.

People didn't sleep with their eyes open.

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Thank you guys sooo much for reviewing...I feel so much better knowing everything is all good! 

I'm writing much longer chapters now, I'm happy...it gets even longer the more I read through it to make sure it's all good... To tell you all the truth, I had this chapter written a LONG time ago....it's just, I was never satisfied, and never motivated enough to post it....I think I'm too much of a perfectionist...TT Hehe, well, thanks all for reading! I'm hoping for some input on how I can improve, I hope you're all pleased! Or if you're not pleased, let me know, because I don't remember how the story's supposed to go....So I can make it go anyway I want right now!

Bishojo Beauty


	5. Accident

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 5

Tifa had no idea what to do. It was very different to be near a sleeping Vincent and a supposedly sleeping Vincent. She couldn't remember a time when she had ever seen Vincent sleep. This was definitely awkward. She watched silently as he sat up in the bed placing his right hand gingerly against his forehead before resting his head against the headboard with his eyes closed. His locks made unruly from sleep laid strewn around him like wings. Tifa shook her head against the image of real wings. Chaos' wings. She forced herself to squash the mental image of the appalling beast as she watched as Vincent breathed erratically through slightly parted lips. His hands were now resting on his sides and Tifa took this opportunity to rest her own hand against his forehead. She did this cautiously, expecting a violent reaction. But all she got was a crack of his eyelids to scout her out before they were shut again. She gasped at the heat she felt through her hand that emanated off his forehead.

"You're burning," she whispered gently, most of her fears dissipating of Vincent the Vampire, or Beast or whatever. A simple "I know," came from his deep baritone voice between his breaths. Tifa moved her hand and laid the back of her hand against his cheek which is also just as hot. She listened and watched as he sighed. The skin beneath her hand was smooth and white as porcelain. A tiny pink tongue darted out to wet his overly dry lips...Suddenly he bolted ramrod straight in the bed and Tifa jumped back just as quick in shock and perhaps fear.

"Get away from me," Vincent ordered, his voice strained as he hunched over now, head in his hands. She was frightened stiff, opening her mouth as if about to say something, but closing it before anything could escape her lips. She paused, and paused and paused . . . and finally, Vincent's eyes closed once again as he fell back into a light slumber. But when he fell, or rather toppled over, he didn't fall the way Tifa would have preferred. She would have preferred if he fell over to his left as the rest of the bed was there, as opposed to his right where nothing was there but a hard wood floor about two or so feet down. Tifa dove then to catch his falling body, but failed miserably as he proved to be much heavier than she thought. He slipped gracelessly through her grip and flat onto the floor, his legs still on the bed. It was quite a sight, and if Tifa wasn't so scared at that moment she would have laughed until she could laugh no more. Tifa bit her lip nervously as she tugged, pushed and rolled Vincent's body until he seemed to be in a somewhat comfortable position before throwing the sheets over his limp body. Huffing in exhausting she plopped herself onto a small chair in the room and made herself comfortable enough for sleep to capture her.

-

The sun was bright, and hit Tifa directly in the face, causing her to stir from her peaceful sleep. She turned in the bed, stuffing her face on the other side of the pillow, hiding from the sunlight. There she rested a bit longer, before she realized that it was not a bed that she fell asleep on the night before. She jolted off the bed, looking from right to left, attempting to identify her surroundings. Then she remembered. Vincent.

"Vincent?" Tifa croaked out. There was no reply. The last thing Tifa could remember was that she fell asleep next to Vincent's bed on a chair. But now she was on the bed. _Then where's Vincent?_ Running her hands through her hair, she worriedly searched the mansion for signs of Vincent. Heading down the stairs, she realized that all signs of any strange incidents happening the night before were inconceivable now.

Tifa called out Vincent's name again, and again, each time louder as she entered different rooms. Finally, she made her way into the kitchen, and there he was. He turned to her, watching her enter the kitchen, an unreadable look on his face, which was now half covered by his cloak. Tifa watched as his eyes narrowed the closer she came to him.

"I hope you slept well, Tifa," he spoke monotonously in his baritone voice. The good meaning of his words contrasted against the wariness in his eyes. _Could after so many fights and battles that we've gone through looking out for each other's backs that you still don't find trust? _Tifa questioned him in her mind. She knew the answer he would give as well. Silence.

"I slept very well, thank you, Vincent. However, I do believe that I am not the one who you should be concerned about," Tifa replied trying to not be too blunt about the point she was trying to get across. But surprisingly, no evidence of the night before could be seen. He looked like he looked any other day that she had seen him even though years have past.

Vincent remained silent and continued his task of what seemed like making breakfast. She watched from a distance as he prepared breakfast for two. She noted that he seemed to not be particularly fond about using his claw hand as most of the time he kept it by his side, hidden under his cloak and hidden from any viewers. She had never thought that Vincent would be self-conscious about such things. She figured then that perhaps Vincent was not a man to proudly bear his scars. Tifa knew a couple of these men well. They would walk into her bar, sleeves rolled up to show a particularly small scar. At least small to Tifa's eyes as she had experienced enough to know what was bad and what was for a wuss to take on.

Tifa leaned against the doorway, dazed by her thoughts. She snapped back as she heard her voice being called from what seemed like a very far distance, but in real, was only a couple of steps away from her. She turned to the voice that was calling her name. It was Vincent, with his hands gesturing towards an empty chair that he had seemingly pulled out while she stood daydreaming.

"Thank you," Tifa said politely as she sat herself into the chair, and smiling up at Vincent as he made his way around the table to the other chair that was absent the night before.

Once again, she began her study of Vincent, which she found to be quite amusing to pass time with. She watched as they ate. It was one of the few times she had actually seen the man eat. Tifa watched with fascination as Vincent picked at his scrambled eggs, once in a while popping small amounts into his mouth before returning to pick at it again.

"Weren't you ever taught not to play with your food?" Tifa asked playfully, smiling brightly at Vincent. One glance from Vincent and her smile faded.

"...no," he remarked simply, an answer that welcomed no response, so Tifa just nodded in acknowledgment. The room fell silent and time ticked by slowly. Tifa felt envious of Aeris as many times she had seen her talk quietly to this stoic man. She never seemed to have difficulty getting words out of him. She studied his features longer, his dark hair, pale skin, perhaps previously brown eyes...It struck her then that perhaps Vincent was Wutain.

"Are you Wutain, Vincent?" She asked, without even thinking about what or whom she was asking. She didn't get an immediate answer and became doubtful she would get an answer at all. Tifa almost whopped for joy when she heard a quiet yes come from him. She smiled at this and took this as an invitation to ask even more questions. So she did, one after the other until both of their plates were empty. Vincent sat back in his chair when he was done, the sunlight coming from the one window in the kitchen hitting his face in an angle that made his eyes glow a brighter shade of red as he looked with disinterest out the window. The sunlight softened Vincent's features tremendously and reminded Tifa of the particular picture of Vincent in Kael's picture album.

"Vincent..." Tifa started, she had a question, but was too scared to ask. The questions she asked earlier were simple questions that served only for her to dart around the only question she truly wanted to ask. He turned to her now, a quizzical look on his face. Or atleast she thought it was quizzical. The light made his face somewhat more readable. Tifa discovered as she asked her thousand questions that a slight quirk of his right eyebrow meant she pique his interest something like that. A cute scrunch of the nose meant he'd rather not speak of the subject. And a narrowing of the eyes meant that she was going too far with the questions. Tifa couldn't help but find joy in discovering the many keys to the locks that to discover the true Vincent.

"Are you done?" Vincent questioned, waiting patiently for a reply. Tifa became perplexed at his question. _Am I done trying to figure you out, you mean... _Tifa thought suspiciously. Did she ask to many questions and annoy him? She did not know. His statement seemed to hold that secret meaning, but then, Tifa figured that she could just be overly analyzing the simple question instead. She then made the mistake of looking into his eyes, in which she adverted her eyes immediately back down to her empty plate as soon as they made contact with his. She felt guilty of something that she did not commit. Perhaps that was why he was one of the top Turks. He could make people admit to their crimes if they didn't even do anything. This was something that she had seen the Turks of her time do far too often. Taking the lives of the innocent. And then it struck her. He was asking if she was done with her breakfast, which didn't really need to be questioned as her plate was clean of all food.

"Yes, yes I am," Tifa replied, smiling once again, but this time nervously. Tifa realized that Vincent had been waiting the whole time she conversed with herself of all the possible secret meanings the simple question held. She watched as Vincent grabbed her empty plate, and went to stack it under his plate. Tifa jumped up immediately, stopping Vincent midway in rising from the table, his eyes searching hers.

"I got it, thanks, Vincent," Tifa offered in what she figured was politely, but as she tugged gently at the plate that Vincent had firmly grasped in his right hand, she realized that Vincent was not accepting her offer. They held a gentle tug of war. Tifa did not want to pull to hard on the plate incase Vincent turned out to be a jokester and would let go of the plate all too suddenly. Tifa decided to then, reach over and pry his stubborn hand from the plate. As soon as their hands made contact, Vincent contracted his, and out of both of their hands the plate flew, shattering against the floor where it fell. Tifa's mouth fell open in shock and she looked to Vincent with this look plastered on her face, unable to form an apology with her mouth wide open. If it wasn't for Vincent's high-collared cloak, Tifa would be able to see a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. But Vincent held his laughter in as he made his way over to the sink to clear his plate, leaving Tifa still in shock.

"You're welcome to remain here tonight, if you wish," Vincent stated after he finished washing the dishes. And with that, he made his way out the back door where Tifa entered in the night before. Tifa still could not take in everything that had just happened.

_Is Vincent leaving me to clean up this mess that he caused?_

-

Vincent found himself chuckling at the very thought of the little "broken dish" incident that had just occurred as he rested on one of the many cliffs of the Nibleheim mountains. It had been so long since he laughed. It had been too long.

Vincent reflected on his rather unusual morning, as he sat upon the cliffs precariously. Tifa reminded him a lot about someone. Someone who he loved...Lucrecia. However, whether he was loved back or not, he did not know. Vincent could feel the fire burning in his blood as his thoughts trailed off to Hojo. He cursed softly at Hojo and at himself for being weak and allowing this man to affect him so. Jumping gracefully down from his position at the top of a few cliffs, he made his way back to Nibleheim. He had some unfinished business with a former Turk.

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Hope ya like! ...really I might actually change this later...I'm not super pleased, but I really wanted to get the next chapter out... 


	6. Betrayal

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 6

A rapping could be heard on Chester's door. With Turk instincts, he armed himself knowing full well that if he, as a Turk, was able to survive all of these years away from Shinra, someone else would be able to as well. Someone that could be after his life. Chester knew that this constant suspicion would be the death of him, and yet he refused to let go of it. _Better safe than sorry is what they say._ Chester thought to himself as he looked through the peep hole. He saw no one. Then a flash of dark hair. And then a bright smile. It was Tifa. Chuckling at himself at his cautiousness towards her he opened the door to greet her with an equally bright smile of his own.

"How are you this morning, Miss Lockheart?" Chester asked as he signaled for her to enter his abode. He watched as she struggled to answer.

"Vince causing you trouble?" He finally asked, and at this Tifa flushed a deep red. But before she could reply, he ushered her into his living room and was already in the kitchen making two cups of hot cocoa. Tifa figured as she watched him that hot cocoa must be his favourite drink.

"My daughter loved hot cocoa" Chester stated plainly. Tifa knew he wasn't stating this for pity, but merely to answer the question she did not want to ask. Tifa silently wished that Vincent was this way.

"Where's your daughter now?" Tifa asked, this time aloud.

"Dead," Chester replied, deadpan. There was a certain sadness in his eyes, a tired kind of sadness. Tifa began to apologize, but was stopped by a raise of his hand.

"Don't be. It's something common for all Shinra employees. It would just be about me, Vince, and-" Chester stopped suddenly, and never continued. Instead he smiled gently to Tifa and took a sip of his cocoa. Tifa then grew wary about Chester. She couldn't help but feel that the man was not who he put himself on to be. Perhaps she was in danger and did not even know it. It was at that moment of realization did a knock sound from Chester's door.

"Who can it be this time?" He asked, half to himself, and half to no one in particular. Tifa turned in her seat to watch as Chester opened the door for whoever was knocking. The sudden whoosh of cold air as a blur of darkness charged into the room caused Tifa to jump in shock. The next thing she knew, Chester was being held against the wall by Vincent's clawed arm around his throat. Tifa heard herself cry Vincent's name as she jumped over the sofa and threw her shoulder against Vincent's open torso. She heard him grunt upon impact and together they fell to the ground. They struggled against each other, Tifa noticing that Vincent was unusually weak. She held him away from Chester with ease.

"Chester!" Vincent shouted. He actually shouted, and the high level of alarm in his voice caused Tifa to turn reflexively to catch Chester backing out of his house, hands raised, and an apologetic look on his face.

"I had to do it, Vince," And those were his last words before he vanished from Tifa's sight.

"What the hell is going on?" Tifa asked to the pinned down Vincent beneath her. She watched as he fumbled with his words. Repeating his "the's" once to many. She couldn't make out what he was saying. Vincent's head began to loll and his words began to slur.

"Vincent!" Tifa shouted, and shook his shoulder roughly in attempt to wake him. An attempt that failed miserably as Vincent's eyes rolled back, and shut themselves. Panic. Tifa was in a flow blown state of panic as her thoughts raced. _What the hell just happened?_ She wanted Vincent to wake up and tell her everything was all a joke and he's not out cold right under her. She wanted Chester to come back and tell her he didn't do anything bad. She wanted so many things, but Tifa knew from experience, these things would not come. She cursed out loud and attempted to focus her mind by taking a couple of deep breathes. Satisfied, she examined Vincent's state. Tifa then realized what Vincent was trying to get as with all of the "the's" he repeated. He was trying to say "the tranquilizer" as there was a stick about three inches long sticking out of his right arm. Tifa pulled it out with swift precision and went to lift Vincent to put him onto the sofa. However, her plan to do so was halted by the click of a gun. Tifa froze and slowly got back onto her feet with her hands in the air. Luckily for Tifa, she caught sight of the man behind her in a mirror to her right. Unluckily for him, he was alone. Tifa acted weak and helpless as the man behind her ordered her to grab Vincent and then follow him. Tifa pretended to obey his orders as she began to bend over. But before she was even halfway bent, she twisted with agility from much training and disarmed the man while sending her fist cracking against his nose. The man cried in pain, and Tifa took this opportunity to knock him with a spinning kick to the back of his head, knocking him down to the ground and unconscious. She recovered from her kick quickly and was once again in fighting stance prepared for any more attackers. But none came. She heard a groan come from the ground, but not from the man before her. Tifa turned around to catch Vincent struggling to get on his hands and knees. A low growl that seemed anything but human now came from Vincent. _This could only mean...Chaos!_ Tifa ran over to Vincent side and tried to do something, to do anything to stop Vincent from transforming. The danger that Vincent posed to the people of Nibelheim as Chaos was far to great for Tifa to ignore. She called his name, and talked to him calmly as she pulled his hair from his face. This revealed a facial expression very foreign to him. It was tight and scrunched up in pain. She heard him call her name as he reached for her hand. His grip was death like and so were the eyes that met hers when he looked up.

"Run," was all he could say before wing's burst out of his back and he was silenced by pain.

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OOO! This chapter's CRAZY! Perhaps nothing more than a really late night of writing... I suppose I'll just have to figure out what happens next later. I'm pretty satisfied, maybe a little too twisted...hopefully not. Anyhow, hope ya enjoyed! Please tell me if ya like it! I dunno what I'm doing anymore! Hehe. 

Bishojo Beauty


	7. Saviour

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 7

He wanted to scream, but he could not. He wanted to stop the pain, but he knew he could not. There was no way to turn back and he knew it. Chaos was taking over his body. It was something he could no longer control. He could not suppress Chaos within him anymore. And this meant danger for those around him. He tried to plead with his eyes for Tifa to get away from him, to run away from like he was a monster. And he was, there was no doubt about that in Vincent's mind. But from Tifa's point of view, Vincent was no monster. However, Vincent did not have a chance to ponder this thought as his consciousness was ripped away from him to be taken over by Chaos. Vincent could only watch, barely conscious inside Chaos, the absolute havoc that it sends upon its wake. He could only pray, something that he did not do for a long time, that Chaos would not hurt Tifa. The chances of that he knew were slim. But even so, he believed it would work. It was all he could do. He would not sin again.

Tifa could not believe her own actions. _This is suicide! _Tifa thought to herself. It was too late anyhow. She swore as she backed quickly away from Chaos' growing form. She knew Vincent had lost his control from the very start of his transformation. She had never seen him stop his transformations halfway despite his attempts from previous battles. This would be no different. She struggled to get onto her feet without taking her eyes off of Chaos. Vincent was now no longer there, nothing existed to indicate it. It was all Chaos now, and it approached Tifa with a deadly glare. It roared once and lunged a jump closer to Tifa and she screamed. However, it did not attack, it merely kept flapping its wings in a slow rhythmic beat, clumsily in the small quarters. It was as if it was playing a game. It's beady red eyes, though the same colour as Vincent's, were no longer dead of life, but now full of hunger. And Tifa knew exactly what for... blood. Further and further Tifa stumbled backwards, and closer and closer Chaos came. She watched as it snarled, saliva pouring over its sharp teeth, making its way down its chin and dripping onto the floor. She had never been on the receiving end of Chaos' attacks, and even then Tifa was frightened. Now, the fear she felt was absolutely numbing. She could no longer feel her legs, and finally, when she tripped over whatever was on the floor, she knew that was it.

But she refused to give up. She continued to back up in a crab-like position now, and finally what she tripped over came into view. It was the man she took down earlier and he was now regaining consciousness. The man turned over and came face to face with Chaos. He screamed a blood curdling scream, and no sooner did this scream escape his lips did Chaos send him flying across the room with a quick swipe of its claw. Tifa whipped her head around to witness the man's body fly limply into the wall, cracking it and revealing the small abode's foundations. Chaos swooped over as best as it could in the cramped space and finished the man off. Tifa refused to watch how.

Minutes past, and yet nothing happened. There was only the rhythmic beating of Chaos' wings. However slower and slower. Tifa peeked out over her hands to watch as the beast stood crouching on the floor, breathing the loud breathes that it breathed. What was it waiting for? Tifa only wished she knew the answer. Then she saw it, there was a man in the room, holding the gun that the now dead man was holding earlier against Tifa. He was covered half by shadows. Only his expensive looking shoes that were covered in mud showed. She wanted to know where and how this man came to stand here, but there were more important issues to deal with at the moment. This man had saved her life. Three white tranquilizers stuck out contrastingly to Chaos' dark skin. And finally as if just on cue, it fell to the ground, sound asleep. Tifa looked to her saviour to see him with the gun still held firmly in his had aimed towards Chaos. Tifa's sigh of relief seemed to break the trance that the other man was in as he finally looked at her for the first time since she took notice of him. Now she could see his face. And what she saw made her heart skip a beat. It was either Tifa was seeing a ghost, or immortality ran in Vincent's family. The man before her was none other than Vincent's brother himself. Live and well.

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I kinda figured that this would be the perfect place to end a chapter... I know it's short, but the one coming after this one is already started! Hehe, I actually know where I'm going now with this story. At first I had an ending I wanted, but I had no way to get there. Now, though, I've just brought then ending to me! Kael showing up! MuHAH! What happens next? I can't tell youuuu! 

I'm super excited for the next chapter! I hope you are too! Tell me what ya think! Reviews are welcomed! I like to know what you think of how things are going and if you're liking it! Thanks too all who has reviewed too! I really appreciate it! Makes me happy knowing someone's enjoying this!

Bishojo Beauty


	8. Confrontation

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 8

Tifa had no doubts that the man that stood infront of her was Kael. He had not aged one bit from the pictures that Tifa had seen of him. His hair was still in spikes, and his features were much softer in comparison to Vincent. They looked very alike in so many ways, and yet in equally as many ways, they were different.

"Are you okay?" Kael asked. He had a deep voice, but not as deep as Vincent's. It had a lighter tone to it. Everything about Kael was much "lighter" than Vincent. It was like light and dark.

Tifa's mind was a blank. She had no answer to give to him. She just plainly couldn't conjure up a single word. A strange noise however escaped her lips. Any other time and perhaps she would have laughed at it, but this was not one of those times. She turned her attention over to Chaos' limp form, unintentionally ignoring Kael's question. He was talking but she could no hear him. Finally she felt someone's touch on her shoulder and she jumped. Her eyes widening as she looked to over to the man who touched her shoulders. She caught nothing but pure concern in the dark brown eyes of his. She concentrated on his lips and what he was saying.

"...must be in shock. I know this must have been a quite traumatic event, but Miss, you must tell me if you're hurt," his eyes continued to search hers for an answer. Out of the corner of Tifa's eyes, she caught the sight of Chaos silently transforming back into Vincent. Tifa's body acted instantly to this. She jumped onto her feet with extreme gracefulness, grabbed Kael's arm and pulled him into the other room, out of Vincent's sight. And more importantly, Vincent out of Kael's sight. She had acted before she had even understood what exactly she was doing. But she thanked her intelligence as soon as they reached the other room. Whether Kael had seen Vincent transform or not, she did not know. But not letting Kael see the beast transform back into Vincent was best for everyone. _Ignorance is bliss. _Tifa thought to herself. _Or...not really but close enough._ From Kael's reaction earlier, Tifa could only assume that Kael did not know. Now she had to cover her actions, and quickly before he suspected something was going on.

"Sorry, I just, had to get out of there," Tifa began, and she hugged herself, putting her best acting skills forward and trying to act frightened. Luckily, Kael bought it and he held her in a tight embrace while telling her that she was safe now. She hid her face into his chest as she pretended to sob. She knew that one look into her face and everything would blow wide open. _Vincent! Do something!_

As Vincent regained consciousness, he could feel the aftereffects of his transformations setting in. He ignored it and tried to focus in on his unknown surroundings. Too many times had he woke up in a place totally foreign to him. But the feeling of waking up indoors was never a pleasant one. He feared for the worst as memories began floating back to him. And then he remembered. He bolted upright and searched the room for Tifa. He found nothing but the bloody man sitting against the wall. Vincent turned his head away in disgust at how wretched of a being Chaos could be. He wanted to scream and lash out. He felt angry. Angry at himself for transforming. He was angry that he'd allowed himself to do so. He knew that his transformations were near impossible to hold down, but always, he felt like an absolute failure. Failure was something that haunted him day to night. It was the feeling of failure that brought him to be who he was today. He failed, failed and failed again to protect those around him. Scolding himself for letting his mind drift so far into his self-loathing, Vincent shoved his current thoughts away and cleared his head of any other thoughts. Right now, he had to find Tifa and make sure he had not harmed her. Vincent could now hear voices coming from the other room. One was male, and the other one was female. He could hear the female sob quietly. Vincent searched for his gun. He found it sitting on the floor a few feet away from him. Silently, Vincent got onto his feet and grabbed the abandoned gun with a quick swoop. With his gun in hand, he approached the voices, poised for action. He had no idea what to expect considering the betrayal of Chester. He knew it was too strange for Chester to show up out of nowhere from the very beginning, but he just didn't have enough pieces of the puzzle to figure out his true intentions. He knew something was up from the moment he saw him. If only he had realized earlier what it was. Vincent was still uncertain as to what was going on, but he had a feeling he was just about to find out.

Slowly but surely, Vincent made his way into the other room. As soon as he turned the corner, his gun was cocked and aimed for the man's head, who had his back to Vincent. Both of the figures froze and over the other man's shoulder peaked Tifa with his eyebrows raised.

"Vincent!" She exclaimed, and at this name, Kael flipped around immediately and what happened next was all a blur. Kael's sudden movements had triggered Vincent into action, and in a split second, both men were on the ground grappling each other. And next, both men were frozen stiff as if they were statues. They just merely stared at each other. Finally after what seemed like an eternity to Tifa, Vincent pulled away and turned his back on Kael slouching in his spot in a very un-Vincent-like manner.

"Vincent?" Kael prodded with his voice. He raised his hand, but stopped before he could touch Vincent. It was as if his touch would be the one thing that would make him disappear. His lips twitched into a half smile and he let out a breath of relief when Vincent turned around to acknowledge his older brother. He merely stared. There was no smile or cry of joy, just a cold, dead stare. Kael did not falter under this look.

"I-I dreamed so long for this moment, Vincent. Forty long years of dreaming, don't do this to me," Kael's voice now dropped down to a whisper and Tifa struggled to hear. This was the closest she had ever come to seeing part of the real Vincent since she had met him. There was something amiss in Kael's disappearance from Vincent's life. She could sense it. Vincent finally looked away and buried his face in his hands. She watched as his shoulders heaved up and down as if he was trying to control an inner demon that was tearing away from inside him. Perhaps he was, Tifa would never know.

"You never came..." This was all Vincent said, his voice muffled by his hands, and it was all that was needed to be said as Kael's demeanor crumbled. Several emotions flitted over his face as he turned away from Vincent and plopped down onto the floor with his back turned to Vincent. This happened all the while Tifa stood and watched from across the room. They all remained silent, and Tifa's presence was no longer acknowledged. For all Vincent and Kael knew, it was only the two of them. Nothing else seemed to matter. It was just the two of them. It was, and for the longest time they thought it would always be. And then _She_ came along and their world got turned upside down. For the better of for the worse, they would never know as the meeting that was planned for months never happened. Kael never came.

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I'm SOOO happy with this chapter...i think? Hehe, yeah, I am. Next chapter should be okay too. Hopefully! I know this is short though! I don't like it short...but this was just such a great place to leave off... Perhaps I'll merge this chapter into the last one. To make one super (actually no, but oh well...) long chapter... Anyhow...Thanks again too all of you that have reviewed! I love hearing what you guys think, it soo makes my day and inspires me to keep going! Hehe, til the next chapter! 

Bishojo Beauty

(Oh, and could someone remind me how long Vincent was in his little coffin for? I just can't seem to remember right now...TT)


	9. Remembering

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 9

**-Flashback-**

A smile crept across Vincent's lips as he thought of his love. They had incidentally bumped into each other in the small Shinra Library, a small smile and an apology was all that was needed for Vincent to fall in love with this woman. Everything about her was absolutely stunning, her chocolate brown hair and eyes to match, her perfectly shaped face and silky skin. But most importantly of all, her smile. Vincent checked himself once more in the mirror and straightened out his blue suit. Despite his brother's protests, Vincent became a Turk, both to support himself and his studies and to take off the pressure on his brother to support him. All in all, Vincent held no regrets. His mind flew back to her again. If it wasn't for his acceptance into the ranks of the Turks, he would have never met her. He laughed gently at himself for always thinking about her. But it was hard not too. _Lucrecia..._

"Looking sharp, Vin." Vincent recognized his brother's voice and turned to acknowledge him. He watched as his brother's expression darkened and Vincent's followed suit. He knew what was going to happen tonight. Together, Vincent, his brother and Lucrecia would leave Shinra forever and live a life of piece away from violence and inhumane experiments.

They had planned their escape for months. They chose to not inform Lucrecia intentionally knowing that she could compromise their plan. She could crack under interrogation. Vincent and Kael would not. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

They could only pray that Lucrecia would see things their way. But something nagged in the back of his mind. Something was not right. Vincent suddenly began to have second thoughts. _What if Lucrecia didn't want to go with them? _Vincent closed his eyes to concentrate. He knew she would. They had shared too many moments of absolute joy together that Vincent had no doubt that she loved him as much as he loved her. But still, even knowing this, the feelings of uncertainty lingered.

Vincent met his brother's eyes and nodded, drawing strength from his brother's presence. Kael himself seemed to ease up as they began to walk down the hallway of the Shinra building together. This could be their last time ever setting foot in this building ever again. If all things went well, it would be. If Lucrecia did no leave with them, they would merely return to their lives as Turks as if this night had never happened. But if Lucrecia agreed to leave, then their lives would become lives of bliss. No more slums, no more Midgar. Just living life.

Their plan was to have Vincent meet Lucrecia at their usual place and there, Vincent would speak to her and tell her of their plans. If she agreed, then they would then together, make it to the outskirts of Midgar by feet and meet Kael there. From there, they would disappear into the night. The summary of the plan seemed simple in Vincent's mind. But in reality, it was far more complicated that one could imagine. It involved a lot of backtracking and covering of tracks so no one could follow.

Before Vincent's mind truly registered it, the plan was set into motion. Vincent was standing alone underneath a lamp post waiting for Lucrecia, and Kael was most likely almost near the gates of Midgar already. He heard soft footsteps approach him from his right and his gunarm twitched reflexively. Vincent mentally and physically calmed himself as he turned to face and be capture by the beauty of Lucrecia. Vincent gave her a smile, he tried to relax his face as much as possible. But the events to come kept him tense and extremely nervous. Lucrecia's brows knit together as she took notice of Vincent' odd behavior.

"Vincent, what's wrong?" She asked as she approached, placing a hand on his forearm. Vincent looked away from her searching eyes. He wanted to ask her so many things. He wanted to say so many things. But there was no time for that. He had to say what he had to say whether she would like it or not. And he told her and she listened. When he was done, she was nearly crying. Vincent did not know whether it was a good sign or a bad sign. He fidgeted while he watched her fight back tears. And to his relief she said she would leave with him and as she cried her answer out loud, she jumped up and embraced him in a bone-crushing hug, and Vincent did not hesitate to return it. Little did they know, someone was watching. Someone who has been watching, and another plan was in motion as well as Vincent's.

Vincent could not keep the smile of his lips as he and Lucrecia hurried through the streets of Midgar hitting all of their planned destinations in order to hide their tracks. Hours later, they were within sight of their final destination where they would meet Kael and they would leave forever. Vincent's gut told him something was wrong one again. And he could not ignore it this time. His feelings were confirmed when he finally reached their meeting point and Kael was nowhere to be found. Vincent searched the area frantically, never once letting go of Lucrecia's hand.

"He should be here!" Vincent growled, and swore. He seethed in frustration and in part anger. Unfortunately, Vincent was only left with two possible conclusions: Kael left without them, or that something happened to Kael. At this point, he felt Lucrecia wretch her hand out of his and bring it to cover her gasp as she stared at something the ground. Vincent followed her eyes, and found a shiny piece of paper with mostly black blotches and a little bit of white on it. Vincent watched as Lucrecia trembled while clutching onto her stomach. She was crying. He opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, but before he could get the words out, she was gone. She had spun around and ran as fast as she could leaving Vincent in absolute shock. He did no move an inch, not even when Lucrecia was no longer in sight. An odd wind blew the picture against Vincent's leg and he bent down to pick it up. Upon close inspection, he finally realized what the picture was. A baby.

Hours past and Vincent continued to stare at the picture he held in his hands. A million questions floating through his mind. He knew it was not his, if this baby was Lucrecia's. Was there someone else? Vincent felt an emotion, but it wasn't a single emotion. Everything just seemed to bare down on him. More hours past, and still, Kael did not show up. As Vincent detected the starting of a new day, he made his way back to the great Shinra building. It looked like he would walk that hall once again. But whether it would ever be with his brother again, Vincent was afraid to know.

Days past, and Vincent saw no sign of Lucrecia. He attempted to seek her out in the labs, but everyone claimed that she was either very busy and cannot be disturbed or somewhere out on break. Rumors of what happened to Kael also began to float around. They were all of the same at first. Just a night out drinking gone wrong. But Vincent knew that was not the case.

Or could it?

Could Kael have stopped and taken a couple of drinks before he reached their meeting point?

Vincent denied venomously to himself and fellow comrades about this possible incident. It was just not his brother that would do this. It wasn't until several days after this that Vincent transformed. Not into one of Hojo's monsters, but into the cold-blooded killer that he was today. Rumors started, and then it was confirmed by a Turk. Kael was spotted outside of Midgar, hiding in some small home in Costa Del Sol enjoying himself. Even pictures were available to prove it. Vincent got a hold of these pictures himself and what he denied finally became a reality. There was no doubt that the man in the picture was his brother. He had abandoned them afterall.

From then on, everything passed in a haze. Hojo had found out about Vincent and Lucrecia, and Lucrecia was pregnant with Hojo's child. Vincent confronted Hojo about his decision of experimenting on his "child" and became an experiment himself.

**-End of Flashback-**

What Vincent failed to notice then was that the pictures were from a Turk known as Chester, who one of the Turks top members. But also the one that was unknowingly to all other Turks, being paid much extra to turn of his fellow comrades and report every detail back to Mr. President himself. Hojo had also enlisted Chester's services when he noticed Lucrecia's growing odd behaviour towards him only to find out that she was seeing Vincent. Chester was the cause of it all. And as this was revealed to Vincent as he spoke to his brother once again, forty years later, a fire was lit in Vincent once again. Someone was going to pay and pay dearly.

"Those photos of me were not real, Vincent. Completely computer generated," Kael explained to Vincent, "You can look at me for proof. I should be dead right now but am I? I am far from it." Vincent shook his head at nothing in particular.

Everything that he had believed in was now proving to be false. It seemed as if it was all a dream. One too many dreams that haunted him. Vincent reached over and pinched his own arm with his human hand. He felt a sharp pain, telling him that it was clearly not a dream. But, Vincent knew from experience that his dreams sometimes seemed just as real as this one. Vincent's head buzzed as his mind became overwhelmed with illusion and reality. Nights and days had passed after he left AVALANCHE where he could no longer distinguish between what was real and what was only a fragment of his dreams. Or rather nightmares.

"What did _he_ do to you?" Vincent finally asked, his voice barely above a whisper. They both knew who the _he_ was. It was none other than Professor Hojo, the sick demented scientist of Shinra.

"The same thing, I'm guessing, he did to you, minus the claw," Kael spoke with his usual lightness in his voice. Something that Vincent never held. Vincent at this moment sighed, got up and left the room. Tifa watched as Vincent left the room, their eyes meeting briefly. And for once since Tifa had met Vincent during their AVALANCHE days, Vincent seemed human. His eyes were no longer emotionless. They seemed, though Tifa high doubted it, to be rimmed with tears. Vincent for the first time, seemed human. He was no longer the monster, the outcast, and according to Yuffie, the Vampire. Tifa did not know if he ever would be again.

Kael then finally turned to acknowledge Tifa.

"I guess he needs some time to think," he simply said, his lips pulling into a grim smile. Tifa returned his smile, equally as grim. Tifa was confused beyond confused. It wasn't often that Tifa heard of Lucrecia, but she had a feeling that this was the woman that Vincent loved, even today, at this very moment. Tifa felt something tug at her heart when she thought of this. _Am I jealous? _Tifa denied it in her head. She couldn't be could she?

A soft 'hey' broke Tifa away from her trance like state. Tifa turned her eyes over to Kael and watched as he made his way over to Tifa's side. He introduced himself to her, and extended his hand for a firm shake. She took his hand, and lost herself in his eyes. They were a beautiful shade of brown, with a couple of golden specks around the iris. They were certainly more comforting than Vincent's blood red eyes. They unnerved Tifa at times, and she was sure it unnerved all other as well. Tifa found herself wondering what colour Vincent's eyes were originally. Considering his background, Tifa concluded that it would run along the lines of black or brown. Tifa's train of thought was broken as she felt Kael continue to study her. She turned a quizzical look over to him.

"You look familiar. I've seen you somewhere before..." he trailed off. Tifa figured that he would say that. Anybody who was alive and old enough to remember meteor would know Tifa's face. At times, Tifa hated it, and at times, she welcomed it.

She had to admit that she was quite lonely. Cloud was gone to who knows where. He had picked up and left without a single word to any of the AVALANCHE members and disappeared into the night. Barret was living happily with Marlene, Cid with Shera, Nanaki and his wife and kids, and Yuffie and her title of Princess of Wutai. Tifa had nothing, no bar, no nothing.

"AVALANCHE. You were one of the members of AVALANCHE," Kael finally said. Tifa nodded in reply.

"That means you know Vincent," Kael stated, and once again was answered by a nod from Tifa. Kael 'hmphed' in a thoughtful way, his facial expression being replace with that of solemnity. Tifa could now see the resemblance between the two siblings. Despite Kael's dashing features, Tifa liked Vincent's much better.

"I think I'm going to go talk toVincent," Tifa whispered, afraid to break the strong silence that settled between them.

"Yeah, just could you...um..." Tifa watched as Kael struggled for words. She understood where he was coming from though.

"Don't worry bout it, Kael, I'll make sure he comes back." This was all Tifa needed to say for her to earn a smile of true gratitude from Kael. She felt awkward saying his name for the first time really, but with the few passing events, Kael felt more and more a part of Tifa's life, and so did Vincent.

Tifa could understand Kael's fear of losing Vincent again. She knew what it was like having lost her father and then Biggs, Wedge, and the other members of AVALANCHE. She was afraid, just like Kael was to lose those close to her again. But she told herself everyday, that life had to go on, no matter how you feel. Time is something that stops for no one.

Tifa gave Kael a reassuring smile before leaving him to his own thoughts and joining Vincent outside on Chester's porch. She took a moment to study Vincent before she interrupted his thoughts. He seemed so lost in this thoughts that he did no notice her standing next to him, or her intense scrutiny. She took in everything. One thing that troubled her the most was his crushing grip on the railing closing off the porch. His knuckles were white from his death grip on the railing. He also seemed to continue to stare at the same point somewhere in the distant for as long as Tifa stood to watch. She called his name and reached to touch his arm. At this touch, he jumped back, complete caught off guard. Something she knew that did not happen to him much. During her days in AVALANCHE, when she'd wander in the night through the airship, she would find Vincent sitting up in the deck area, and he would acknowledge her with his back turned to her. Never once needing to turn around to know it was her. She concluded jokingly to him that he must of had eyes in the back of his head. But he did not laugh.

Tifa's attention was drawn back to present time when Vincent cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest defensively. She had no idea that Vincent was so offended with her touch. She felt hurt deep down, but she ignored it. Despite his reaction earlier, he remained rooted in his position, not moving his feet an inch or shifting his weight.

"You okay?" Tifa asked. It was a simple question, but one with a very complicated answer. For all Vincent could really tell, he couldn't feel anything. He felt numb. Vincent cursed if it was his transformation that was causing his weariness. For the first time since he awoke from unconsciousness, he felt the exhaustion from the transformation settle in. His legs were trembling in an attempt to keep him upright, his body shivered to keep his body warm in the cool weather and his chest heaved to bring in the necessary oxygen to feed his hungry lungs. He was getting light-headed now. He needed to sit down. But the choices of areas to sit were very few. But when he felt his legs buckle from underneath him, he concluded that the ground was not so bad of a place after all. This was his final thought as we feel into and embraced the darkness that enveloped his mind.

* * *

Long chapter, ya? Yes. It's longer than usual and I'm proud of it. I hope it wasn't too boring. It just seemed to never want to stop its own so I just merely continued to type away. Hehe, not really, I just didn't have a really good spot to stop, and I wasn't positive what I wanted to happen here. I'm kinda lost again for how I'm going to get from one place to the other. But until then, ...um...i don't know... 

Oh, and my apologies to those who are offended that Vincent loves Lucretia. Things can change though!

Bishojo Beauty

I hope this chapter's good...TT no time to reread and edit...darn...


	10. Snow

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 10

Tifa simply watched, her body numbed by shock, as Vincent's form crumpled lifelessly onto the ground. Once the initial shock subdued, she panicked. She heard the screen door behind her fling open, and nearly off it's hinges as Kael came running out of the house. He must have heard the thump of Vincent's falling body and Tifa's muffled cry of alarm.

Before Tifa even realized it, Vincent's body was already hoisted and placed onto the couch in the living room of Chester's home. Kael was busy trying to identify his ailments as soon as Vincent was set in a relatively comfortable position. Slowly, Tifa's mind began to function normally again, and she remembered now that Vincent often fainted after his transformations.

She remembered the first time that the AVALANCHE members had witnessed Vincent faint. Truthfully, though, none of them had really witnessed it. It was only due to luck, and perhaps Yuffie's unhealthy obsession with Vincent that the group noticed. He was always so silent, that sometimes the group would never really know if he was still with them or not. With Vincent always at the back of the group and his mysterious intentions, this made all the members uneasy knowing that they're back was turned on a possible danger. But he never proved to be dangerous. Helpful more than anything. He would notice and defend beasts that were undetectable to their senses. Tifa suspected that Vincent had heightened senses due to the experiments conducted on him by Professor Hojo. But she never questioned him about it. From that day on, the group kept an eye on their unfriendly companion after he transformed, expecting him to faint.

Tifa reentered the house and faltered in her step as she realized that Kael perhaps did not know about Vincent's transformations. Tifa was not about to take the risk of Kael knowing. It would be a complete invasion of privacy if Tifa told Kael.

Tifa tried to offer Kael as much comfort as she could with words. She remembered as well, those many years ago, that she would worry over Vincent just as Kael was over him now. Even though she saw him wake from his blackouts time after time, she feared all the same that he would one day not. This fear made itself known again now. But for Vincent's sake, she did not want to go on telling Kael about his transformations and such.

Tifa offered gently to take over Kael's ministrations to Vincent insisting that she knew what to do. Kael however, was not convinced and refused to budge from his spot, protectively over Vincent. Tifa sighed, and resolved to physically taking Kael by the shoulders and sitting him down on the other couch. Afterwards, she went on preparing the necessities, and nursing Vincent back to consciousness. The whole time, Kael refused to remain seated. He paced around the room, back and forth, around in circles, and in and out the door. He did anything and everything but sitting down and being still. Tifa was about to ask him to politely calm himself and relax but was stopped when she heard a groan escape Vincent's lips. At this, Kael was by Vincent side immediate, nearly knocking over Tifa in his momentum to reach his side. He was calling Vincent's name, clinging onto his hand and thanking the higher powers for Vincent's reawakening. Tifa herself sighed in relief as Vincent awoke.

"Kael?" Vincent's voice was full of confusion. Everything on his body felt like they weighed a tonne. He could barely even open his eyes and focus on what was in front of him. His mind was also hazy of all the past couple of events. But slowly it returned to him. And so did reality. Everything that had happened was real, and he was not dreaming. He smiled a little at this. Tifa having removed Vincent's cloak from him earlier, got a full view of his half smile. It wasn't a full one like the one she say in the pictures, but it was a smile nonetheless coming from a man who had a face seemingly chiseled from stone.

Vincent reached for his brother and grabbed a hold of his shirt sleeve in a grip that spoke of no release and instantly fell into his first restful sleep since his brother had disappeared. His brother was back and that was all that mattered.

Tifa scrounged Chester's home for blankets and pillows once Kael finally agreed later on in the night to take a rest away from Vincent's side. Upon returning, she was greeted by the sight of both Vincent and Kael fast asleep on the two couches. Making her way over to Kael's side as quietly as possible as to not awake him, she gently laid a blanket over his prone form and placed a pillow by his side. She did the same for Vincent before setting up a place next to Vincent on the floor for herself to sleep. She didn't mind sleeping on the floor at all. She grew quite accustomed to it during her AVALANCHE days as they often camped outside when it grew too dark and dangerous to continue their journey by feet.

Tifa glanced over to Vincent as she sat down. This was the second time since she knew him that she had seen him cloak-less. And it was something that she would not mind to see more often. Why he wore the cloak in the first place, Tifa did not know. _There wouldn't be anything to hide would there?_ Tifa took this chance to finally get a good look at Vincent. Though a little paler than normal, he was strikingly beautiful. A rare word to describe a man's features but it was true. Her eyes trailed along his long neck and as far down as his shirt would allow to find nothing but smooth expanses of skin. No markings whatsoever to hide.

Her eyes trailed down to his hand which laid curled next to his face. There, she noticed a scar that ran along his palm. It was a rather big gash near his thumb. She daringly traced it lightly with her fingers. Vincent shifted in his sleep at her touch, and Tifa quickly retracted her hand, and settled down for as restful as a sleep as she could get.

In Vincent's unconscious state the touch stirred memories in Vincent. He began to dream and remember how he got that very scar.

_It was one fateful morning. Vincent sat in a chair by the window, staring out and envying the children playing outside. The children were all part of the same orphanage that Vincent and his brother belonged to. However, Vincent and Kael did not get the kinds of luxury the other children got. They were misfits. They were parentless, unlike most of them. A large number of them had parents, but they were either "accidents" or the parents just couldn't afford to care for them anymore and resorted to sending them off to what they considered a better life. Vincent considered it hell. _

_Despite his ripe age of six, Vincent was quite smart. But his intelligence was something he kept to himself. Vincent refocused his attention to his reflection in the window. His hair was fairly long and unruly, and his clothes were clearly hand-me-downs. _

_The kids outside were playing baseball. It was the fat kid's turn. Vincent watched as he took a couple of practice swings. And when he finally hit the ball, it went flying high and fast into the air. Closer and closer it came to Vincent, and unexpectedly, right through the window. The glass shattered and showered over Vincent's tiny form. He heard the crunch of grass under his bare feet as he jumped down from where he sat. It stung and he could feel warm blood oozing from the bottom of his feet. The kids outside screamed and ran out of sight in an attempt to escape blame. Vincent unknowingly to his fate, picked up the ball. As he did this, the man of the wife who ran the orphanage spotted him. In blind rage, he ran towards the boy, yelling profanities all the way through. Vincent reacted on his instincts, and his instincts told him to run. _

_Through the small home he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him, screeching his lungs out at the horror that he knew his future held. Eventually, he was back where he started. As he approached the broken glass, he slipped on his own blood and fell. A sharp pain shot across his hand as glass tore through it and embedded itself in his small chubby hands. And finally, the ugly man reached Vincent. He grabbed Vincent by the hand, incidentally where the glass had imbedded itself, and Vincent cried out in pain as the glass dug deeper into his small hands. _

_The man sneered at Vincent. The man smelt of alcohol and smoke, made Vincent want to gag. Vincent then felt the sting of a slap across his face and he fell to the ground and onto the tiny glass shards on the ground. The man was yelling at him, but he couldn't hear him. Instead, all he could really do was see, and all he saw he was his brother standing at the entrance of the living room. His hands were clenched into tight fists, and his body trembled in anger. They were now all screaming and Vincent curled himself into a little ball. He hated screaming. He hated anger. Before he knew it, his barrier was pierced by the screech of the ugly man and Vincent could feel himself being picked up and carried away. Looking up, he could see tears streaming down Kael's face. He was saying something._

_"Vincent, no more. We aren't going to live that life anymore, Vincent. I'm sorry, I wanted the best for us, but, not like this," Vincent reached for his brother's cheeks to wipe away the tears. _

_"It's okay, Kael. As long as you're here," Vincent knew they would make it. Somehow._

With a quick inhale of breath, Vincent found himself awake. His eyes and his body shooting up with abnormal speed despite his body's protests, as he woke from his dream. Sighing, he allowed his head to droop down against the couch's back. His hands were shaking and his nerves were frayed. It was rare that he was visited by memories from his childhood. Those years seemed to be smothered in a darkness that he could never reach outside of very rare dreams.

Vincent could still feel the aftereffects of Chaos' overtaking of his body. Every inch of his body ached nonstop, and it hurt considerably more to move than if he was to lie still. Which was what he resolved to doing, until he began to cough. It wasn't just a normal cough, it was hacking. Hacking up blood to be more exact. Vincent never fathomed longer than he needed as to whos blood he was always coughing up after his transformations. Was it Chaos? His? Or, even worse, his prey? Vincent did not want to know.

Vincent looked around the room in the darkness. He noticed two sleeping forms. One on the ground beneath him, and the other on the other couch. He squinted in the darkness to make out the flow of long hair of the figure beneath him. Vincent fought down his urge to cough, as it threatened to burst from within him. He did not want to wake up Tifa and Kael, and especially since they would wake to find him in this condition. A condition that worsened from week to week, perhaps even day by day.

The cough that Vincent struggled to hold down finally escaped his grasp and came out as a wrangled cough. The figure below him shifted.

"Vincent?" Tifa's whisper reached Vincent's ears. He watched as she sat up and attempted to find him in the darkness.

"You okay?" She asked now. Tifa waited, but no response came. Had she just imagined Vincent's cough? She heard another cough, and Tifa confirmed her suspicions.

"Vincent?" She called out again. Tifa reached for him blindly, forgetting in her sleepy state that Vincent was not like others with human contact. Her hand rested gently on Vincent's knee. Vincent could feel the warmth of Tifa's hand seep through the thin blanket that covered him earlier. He knew it was a friendly gesture of comfort and concern, but he found no comfort in it. He would have shifted out of her reach if he could. But right now, his body protested movement so much, he sufficed to remain still. Even breathing hurt. It didn't help that his chest felt like exploding on him. Tifa repeated her question with more concern evident in her voice.

"Yes," Vincent finally replied, his voice barely even a whisper. He was lying and he knew that Tifa knew that. But she did not question him further.

Vincent looked around the room until he finally spotted what he was looking for. A clock, and it read 6:00 in bright red digits. The sun was going to be up soon, and Vincent did not feel like sleeping anymore, so he began to slowly extract himself from the couch and the blanket that covered the lower half of his body.

"You should rest more," Tifa suggested, her hand applying more pressure on his knee as she spoke. With a quiet grunt, he ignored her. Clumsily, he finally got up and rested unsteadily on his feet. He felt as if he would fall over any minute now, but he trusted his body to hold him upright. Slowly and carefully, he made his way to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. If it was anything he needed in the morning, it was coffee. He was not a morning person despite many others beliefs. He may be up early, but not for reasons that a morning person would be up for.

Sighing, Tifa rubbed the sleep from her eyes and followed Vincent into the kitchen where bright light blinded her for a moment. Squinting she sought out Vincent. When she spotted him, she noted that he looked like hell.

Grabbing a mug for herself and waited for the coffee to brew in the machine beside Vincent. Glancing over quickly, she caught him looking at her.

"How are you feeling?" Tifa asked. Vincent nodded in response. It did not exactly answer her question, but at least she got a response. One that was very typical of Vincent, she noted. There was something that had been bugging her all night. And now Tifa remembered what it was.

"I never remembered it to be this bad," Tifa started, "your transformations, I mean," Tifa stopped here, not saying anymore to allow Vincent to either respond or take her words as a mere statement of her thoughts. She was surprised when she heard a quiet 'no' come from him. He was still cloak-less, and it was strange to see him speak with moving lips. Vincent's response wasn't ideal, but it was a response nonetheless. She felt his eyes on her again and she turned her attention to him and met his gaze. She could tell he was contemplating something. Having full view of his face, Tifa noticed, that it made deciphering his current state of mind much more easily. Tearing his eyes away from her, he began to speak. With very little words, he told her how he noticed a change in Chaos' need for release. It was as if Vincent was in some sort of danger. He could constantly feel Chaos' wary presence lingering in him. This was a clear sign of danger for Vincent. He knew something was wrong. But he did not tell this to Tifa. All she knew was that Chaos' was on edge for some reason he could not figure.

This caused Tifa to worry even more. Having Chaos' involved so deeply in this, was a great concern for Tifa. Not only was this a danger to the people around Vincent, but Vincent himself. She remembered one day when she had spotted him on the deck of Highwind in deep thought after a transformation, he had told her something that she would never forget. Every time he transformed, it was one times closer to losing himself completely and becoming nothing more than a blood-hungry beast in monster form or in human form. He had called himself a monster that night and Tifa fought to convince him otherwise, but to her disappointment, he simply ignored her. He was still quite intimidating then. He still was today. But yesterday, she saw something in him that changed her whole perspective on his being.

She saw vulnerability.

When Kael finally awoke, he found himself underneath a warm blanket and no Vincent on the other couch. At this thought he panicked and hastily rose from the couch where he slept only moments earlier. He heard a clink of glasses coming from the kitchen. He moved urgently, but calmly into the kitchen where he was greeted by sight of Vincent and Tifa enjoying a cup of morning coffee together at the kitchen table silently. Tifa called out a cheerful good morning to him as opposed to Vincent's strained one.

Both Tifa and Kael could sense Vincent's uneasiness around Kael's presence. But neither of them blamed him for it. It wasn't every day that your missing brother who had supposedly betrayed you shows up suddenly out of no where forty years later without a single sign of aging on his physical form. Kael had noticed that Vincent did not age a bit either. What he did not know, however, was that Vincent was not only changed on the outside by Hojo but on the inside as well. Kael had not seen Vincent transform the other night, and he did not ponder longer than needed about the sudden disappearance of that monster. All that was important to him was that he had found Vincent and he was well.

Kael pushed his thoughts away and greeted the pair with a good morning of his own. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down with Vincent and Tifa. Together, they chatted about nothing general. The sunny but very chilly weather, the great tasting coffee, and Vincent's long hair were a couple of subjects they touched upon before running out. Silence fell in then, and with silence, came a feeling of awkwardness.

"Oh, look! It's snowing!" Tifa suddenly exclaimed. Both Vincent and Kael turned towards the window and observed as snow came down onto the ground. Already there was a lot of snow on the ground.

"It must of snowed through the night!" Tifa said excitedly while making her way closer to the window. Then without thinking, she turned around and grabbed Vincent by his metallic arm.

"Come on, Vincent! Let's go out and play!" She urged and tugged at Vincent's unmoving form. Vincent looked stared at Tifa reluctant to go. Tifa could have almost sworn there was even a slight pout on his lips. Mesmerized, her grip loosened.

"Don't spoil the fun, Vince. Go," Kael finally said. It was more of an order, and surprisingly and unsurprisingly, Vincent got up. But not without a small frown in his brother's direction. At this, Tifa renewed her passion to get Vincent to go with her. Tifa concluded that Vincent needed some fun time to melt his icy cold demeanor and into the Vincent she saw in the pictures. On their way out, however, Vincent stopped to put his cloak back on which disappointed Tifa quite a bit.

It discouraged Tifa when Vincent merely watched from the porch of Chester's house while she danced and played in the snow. Tifa at first urged Vincent energetically to come and join her, but after a while, his sour mood began to wear on her as well. Then, out of no where, Tifa spied a snowball fly at an amazing speed through the air and right for Vincent. And it surely hit its mark, catching Vincent completely off guard.

The sight was hilarious and Tifa couldn't help but laugh out loud. Vincent's face was covered in patches of snow and so was his hair. Tifa ran up to him as she laughed and helped him pick off some of the snow from his hair and cloak as he stood there with menacing eyes. Tifa turned her eyes to his assailant, and spotted Kael literally rolling in the snow laughing. Tifa bit down on her lower lip to hold back another fit of laughter while she helped Vincent. With one quick sweep, Vincent brushed the snow from his face while unbuckling his cloak with his claw. Excusing himself to Tifa, he made his way into the snow.

Tifa watched as Vincent made his way towards Kael's rolled up form. The crunch of the snow under Vincent's boots stopped as Vincent did and crouched to gather snow. Slowly and meticulously, he packed snow into a large round snowball all the while eyeing his target down. In one quick motion, the snowball flew from Vincent's fingertips to Kael's face. This only caused Kael to laugh harder. Vincent narrowed his eyes further at his brother's antics. Tifa watched in amusement as the Valentine brother's began an all out snow fight. They were two grown men who were supposed to be in their fifties, perhaps sixties, in a childish game of snowball fighting. Before Tifa knew it, she became the target of two snow balls. They were kind enough to not hit the face, but stupid enough to involve her in it.

"You'll regret this!" Tifa shouted before returning fire at the two men attempting to hide behind a small lamppost. It was a pathetic hiding place, but it was better than none, and Kael won out over Vincent on this one leaving Vincent wide open for Tifa. Tifa laughed as her snowball hit its mark: Vincent's face. Tifa saw the ghost of a smile on Vincent's features before she turned and ran for the Nibelheim mountains seeking cover there. She could hear Vincent and Kael gaining on her heels. She twisted her head around quickly to see that Vincent and Kael already had snowballs made in their hands. How they were so fast, Tifa was not sure, but had a good idea that it was from Hojo's experimentation. Before Tifa could whip her head back around, she tripped and felt herself fly a couple of feet forward, but luckily, her fall was cushioned by the snow. She felt hands helping her up and identified them to be Kael's as he asked if she as okay. Laughing it off, she turned herself around to identify the culprit to her fall. Vincent was also doing this as well, and the suspicion in his eyes told her something was deathly wrong.

"Vincent? What's wrong?" Tifa asked. She wasn't expecting an answer. She never expected an answer from him. Only hoped for one. Tifa got the answer to her question as Vincent turned the lump in the snow over. As the large object moved, Tifa identified it to be a body, and once the body landed on its back, its head lolled and faced Tifa, the hollow eyes of the man bore into Tifa's own. Tifa screamed and covered her face. It was not like her to show such weakness, but this was far more than she expected.

It was the body of a man. A man that Tifa, Vincent and Kael knew.

"Chester..." was all that was said by the two brothers simultaneously.

* * *

I guess this is an alright chapter... Hehe, i tried! Hope ya liked it! More to come! I know it's been a while...but it's like, two times longer than it was supposed to be. I went back to reread it and see if I liked it or not, and then I just started adding and adding. I was actually going to take the whole dream scene out. But I figured that since I wrote it, then I might as well keep it.

Thanks for reading guys! Please tell me ya liked this chapter? Or suggest some changes I can make. I think the next chapter is gonna be much better! So stay...tuned?

Bishojo Beauty


	11. Nightmare

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 11

All hell broke loose upon the identification of the body. The sounds of bullets reverberated in Tifa's skull as shots were fired. However, the bullets that she expected never came. Instead, the same long white dart that Tifa found earlier in Vincent that came flying in their direction. Tifa felt Vincent tackle her by the waist and pretty much carry her to safety in to the depths of small recess in the mountain side. She watched as Vincent made short and swift had signals to Kael, who was crouched opposite of them behind a large rock. Despite the great danger they were facing, Tifa felt secure and protected. She discovered the source of her feelings. Vincent had his arm around her shoulders in a protective gesture holding her tightly against his chest. Unconsciously, he had held her close to him, no longer in fear of physical contact. Only his basic instincts came into play and it screamed for survival and protection of Tifa.

Huddling closer, Tifa could hear his heart pacing quickly in his chest, and feel the rise and fall of his breaths which were both accelerated by adrenaline now running through his blood. He lowered his lips to her ear and whispered their plan. His hot breath tickled her cold cheeks, giving them a break from the crisp cold air of Nibelheim.

Their plan was simple: Run. They were all unarmed. There was no way that they were going to be able to defend themselves. For now they had to rely solely on luck to escape the clutches of death unharmed.

"On three," Vincent whispered in a low voice that rumbled in his chest. Tifa watched in amazement as the two ex-Turks communicated with each other without words. And before she knew it, she was being lifted and carried down Nibelheim mountain. When she heard Vincent's simple plan, she was expecting to be running herself and definitely not to be carried. In a way, she was thankful that she was being carried as Vincent and Kael ran at abnormal speeds down the mountain and towards the Chester's house. They both burst through the door with a forceful kick and Tifa found herself thrown behind a wall and abandoned. She spotted Vincent gathering his Death Penalty from across the room. The Death Penalty was a gun that Tifa found to be unnecessarily large and very menacing. No sooner did Vincent leave Tifa, was he back by her side.

"Hold this," he ordered curtly. He seemed to be in Turk mode. Tifa looked down to the object that she was now holding. To her surprise, it was one of the darts that was being fired at them. Vincent must have been able to obtain one on his way down the mountain somehow. With this, she felt herself being pressed up against the wall by Vincent's claw arm. It's coldness seeped through Tifa's shirt. Vincent's head was turned away from her, and all she could see was a mane of black on top of more black. His body seemed much more frail then it did with the cloak on if it was even possible. Vincent was a thin man. Tifa noted to herself to feed him as soon as whatever the hell was going on ended. Tifa was pulled out of her thoughts as shots rang out from the other side of the room and shards of wood flew in every direction. She wanted to help Vincent and Kael, but her close-combat skills were not needed in this gun battle. She felt Vincent shift slightly and then the familiar loud bang of Dealth Penalty sounded three consecutive times followed by grunts and thuds. Tifa guessed that Vincent must have hit his mark. Silence ensued. For the longest time, no one moved, and nothing sounded. Their ears were greeted by silence after each rise and fall of their heavy breaths.

The battle seemed almost too easy. But then again, how many men could really have waited for them to show themselves in the mountain top. Not many without being at a disadvantage somewhere else. Vincent and Kael signaled once, and both moved out of their hideouts.

"We need to talk," Kael stated. His expression spoke of nothing but seriousness. And talk they did. It turned out that Kael had been in close encounters with these men before and it was obvious that this had something to do with the Valentine's past. He was able to obtain some information off of one of the men hen he held him up at point-blank range. From there, he followed men back to some underground hideout and then finally to Nibelheim.

"I've been following a pack of them, and it's led me here," he finally finished. It was clear that Kael's lead was pretty much lost as they were all dead.

"So, what now? There's clearly something up. Otherwise why would they be shooting at you, Vincent?" Unknowingly, Tifa stated something that played more importance than she had initially thought.

"She's right. They were only shooting at you," Kael asserted. With that statement, Tifa held up the dart that Vincent handed her earlier. And from there, they devised a plan. They were to leave as soon as possible and head for Cosmo Canyon where they would see Nanaki and find out if he would be able to identify the substance in the dart. It was clear to Vincent that the substance was not a mere tranquilizer. When shot earlier, Vincent felt immediately, Chaos pushing against Vincent's conscious. Vincent however, did not mention this to the others.

They packed quickly, and soon after, they were set off on foot heading for Cosmo Canyon. Tifa had contacted Nanaki earlier and notified him of their plans and to expect them within the next couple of days. And their journey began...

Silently.

No one spoke a word for what seemed like miles and Vincent trailed further and further behind Kael and Tifa. Tifa couldn't help but glace back worriedly at Vincent. After a while, she couldn't take it anymore, and slowed her pace down to that of Vincent's. She offered a small smile and a quiet 'hey' in her greeting and in return she got barely even a glance. Tifa was about to go on and try to make conversation further, but stopped when she felt Vincent's hand around her wrist. His human fingers were icy cold against her warm skin. They've been travelling for a quite a while, and they were already out of the chilly weather of Nibelheim and onto much nicer and warmer temperatures. The sun was out and blazing and yet Vincent's fingers were chillingly cold, despite his nearly all black attire. He had lost his cape back when he discarded it in the snow fight, and now Tifa could see that something was really bothering him. His eyes were narrowed and his lips were pulled into a taught line. He turned his head up as if listening for something.

"What is it?" Tifa asked. She tried to listen as well, but she heard nothing out of the ordinary.

"Nothing," Vincent finally said in his quiet rich baritone voice. Vincent then suddenly let go of Tifa's wrist and apologized. Turning quickly, Vincent picked up his pace to catch up with Kael who walked up ahead, completely oblivious to them. Tifa ran a couple of steps and then fell into step with Vincent not before catching a glimpse of something that she had never really seen in full view before. Vincent's back and all that came with it. The brunette couldn't help but smile, knowing that she was lucky enough to be granted such a view and also at her childish feelings. Anything out of the ordinary with Vincent was like a one in a lifetime chance type of thing. It was very rare. And Tifa chose to enjoy these moments.

Tifa felt a pair of eyes on her and she turned to meet them. With the wind blowing most of Vincent's hair out of his face, the sunlight glinted off Vincent's eyes giving them an even stronger glowing effect. They glistened under the attention of the sun, and Tifa could have sworn that she even spotted gold specks somewhere within the red abyss of his eyes. Vincent's questioning look only served to widen Tifa's smile, which eventually turned into a giggle.

Vincent abruptly turned away from Tifa and adverted his eyes towards the horizon. He refused to allow himself to revel in Tifa's beauty that had attracted him to her lately. It was distracting and it had thrown him off his daily schedule since day one. And before he knew it, he was out of Nibelheim and walking to Cosmo Canyon. For the rest of the walk until night fall, he denied himself the right to even glance over in her direction. Little did he know, this hurt Tifa.

Tifa felt complete rejection as she continuously tried to get Vincent to just even glance at her. She tried everything but contact, and perhaps that might have been the one thing that worked. She wouldn't ever know as it was now dark out and they were already setting up camp. Unloading their bags off their backs, the Valentine brothers began pitching the tents in which they would sleep in for the night

"I'm going to keep watch for tonight. The last thing we need are those bastards coming for us again," Kael declared. He objected any protests from Vincent and told him to get the rest that he needed. After all, it was just last night that he fainted out of nowhere in Kael's eyes. After they were finished with the one tent, Vincent went over to set up the second.

"Wait, we don't need that one. The less things we set up, the less we need to pack. You and Tifa can share one, this tent is large enough to fit three," Kael stated, taking the other tent out of Vincent's hands. Vincent could not find his voice to oppose Kael's suggestion and finally submitted with a sigh. Vincent sauntered over to the fire where he found Tifa and Kael talking and laughing. In a way, he felt jealous that Kael could make her laugh. Vincent doubted that he had ever made her laugh the way his brother was making her laugh right now even though he knew her for much longer than his brother. Vincent mentally squashed his feeling of jealousy. He didn't think he could really be jealous. Perhaps more like envious he told himself. Cursing himself, he joined the two on the ground.

"So is it okay if you guys rest together in the one tent?" Kael asked. Tifa hesitated in reply and glanced behind her at the tent. Mistakenly, Vincent took this for resent at him.

"Yeah, the thing's big enough for more than two of us," Tifa said with a smile. But in reality, she was on edge. She had never been so close with Vincent before. It was awkward in a way. For a couple of more minutes, the threesome sat up with the fire, but eventually, Tifa and Vincent gave into exhaustion and headed for the tent, leaving Kael as their watch for the night. Politely, Vincent held up the tent flap for Tifa to enter first, and she thanked him generously. He merely nodded in reply. Vincent followed in shortly after and took up the other half of the tent. Meticulously as usual, he removed his boots and deposited them outside of the tent and Tifa followed suit. Soon, Tifa found herself facing Vincent's back as he laid down to rest. But not before unholstering Death Penalty and laying it by his side. Tifa told herself that it was only for safety that he kept it so near him. Still she felt nervous around it.

"Good night, Vincent," Tifa called out before laying down herself. Half of her expected nothing in reply, the other half hoped for one.

"Good night, Tifa," Vincent replied. A smile spread across her lips. There was something about the way he said her name. It was different in a way. Softer, he made it sound softer. Sighing in content, she closed her eyes and let herself drift off into a peaceful sleep.

It was early morning and the sun was just rising when Tifa found herself awakening to a loud grunt. Opening her eyes, she blinked away her sleepy confusion and was greeted by the sight of Vincent battling against his pillow. He was laying on his stomach with his claw was dug deep into his pillow, causing it to nearly tear, his hair laid in a disheveled mess around his face and one of his legs shot up over on to Tifa's side.

_So much for being a gentleman._ Tifa thought. Tifa could hear Vincent mumbling into his pillow, clearly in the midst of a nightmare.

"Vincent," Tifa called out, her voice just a bit above a whisper. She received no reaction from Vincent. She tried again, and this time she reached out touched him on the forearm. Unexpectantly, Vincent's eyes flew open and within a matter of seconds, Tifa found herself on her back, and Vincent on top of her. His eyes were mad, and his claw rested tightly around Tifa's neck while his other hand held Death Penalty to her temple.

* * *

I hope this ending isn't too abrupt. I had to find an ending to what was originally about 9 pages long. I decided to cut it into two chapters, since I haven't finished the ending of it yet. I'm so far at my third ending for this chapter. And hopefully my last. I think I'm pleased with it now though. Just need to end it, and then proof read! 

And i believe one review i received was speaking of typos? If you find one, point it out! I'll correct it! I hate spelling errors too, and yes, they are distracting, so yeah, I try hard to catch them all, but, i guess I'm not doing a good enough job...TT

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter will be coming soon! And so far I like it. If you didn't like this chapter, I think the next one will definitely make up for it! Or at least i think so!

Bishojo Beauty


	12. Losing Control

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 12

Tifa choked in both fear and from the digits of Vincent's claw constricting around her neck. She managed to choke out his name, and at this, he flew off of her and isolated himself on the other side of the tent leaving Tifa gasping for breath.

Putting a hand to her throat, the brunette watched as Vincent struggled for words. It took a while before he finally regained his composure and became the Vincent that Tifa had grown familiar with.

"My apologies, Tifa. Please forgive me," he finally said. He did not expect, nor did he want Tifa to forgive him. It was merely a request that was polite to make. He felt he deserved no forgiveness from those he hurt.

"It's okay, Vincent. I know you didn't mean it," Tifa replied. Upon hearing this, Vincent turned his eyes towards Tifa and was blown away by her smile. It was the last thing that he expected. She was too nice for him.

"I'll forgive you..." Tifa whispered, but trailed off. She suddenly had a very devious idea. Something that could perhaps help push Vincent in the right direction and open up more. Vincent slightly raised his eyebrows at her strange behaviour.

"On one condition," Tifa paused as if asking for permission for her to continue. Vincent was captivated by Tifa's friendliness and forgiving nature, and so nodded in consent.

"I give you a hug," she finally finished.

"What?" Vincent found himself not being able to hold back his shock. It was the last thing he expected.

"Well, it's just that...I just thought you could us a hug," Tifa explained, "But if you don't want one, it's okay..." Tifa finished, trailing off again. Silence stretched between them as Vincent stared at Tifa in bewilderment. Or at least that is what Tifa interpreted his expression to be. She watched as Vincent finally shrugged and nodded. Tifa took this as consent, and flew into Vincent, wrapping her hands around his waist. She heard a funny noise come from Vincent, and then he pulled himself out of her grasp and scurried for the exit of the tent. He was then out and gone, leaving Tifa behind and hurt.

But she understood him, despite what he thought. She figured that there were always underlying motives that made him do the things he does. And she vowed to never overlook these and let them blind her from her perception of the real Vincent Valentine, in which she planned to unlock. Sighing, she opened the tent flap and proceeded to find Vincent. Unfortunately, however, she had no idea where to look.

"He went that way," came a quiet mutter from Kael. His eyes were closed and he laid comfortably against a tree with a finger pointed down a well traveled path. Thanking him, Tifa ran off in the direction that Kael pointed. Upon reaching the end of the trail, she spotted Vincent. They were standing in a large clearing now, and were surprisingly up on a small slope where the view was absolutely spectacular. Down below, there were luscious forests, flowing rivers and small waterfalls. The smell of moist air wafted up to Tifa's nostrils. Tifa observed silently, Vincent's hostile figure. Everything about him spoke of hostility. She approached him as silently as possible. Knowing Vincent, he already knew she was there.

She called his name, but receive not acknowledgment. She walked up to his side, and looked up to his face. He was quite a bit taller than she was, and absolutely beautiful in the morning sunlight. His eyes had that eerie but absolutely alluring glow to them again, and the golden sun gave him a more lively skin colour. His features were very relaxed as his lips weren't pursed into a straight line, his brows weren't furrowed, and his eyes were not narrowed warily. There was something different this time. Finally, he turned to face Tifa, giving her a full view of his face. She reached out to touch his arm, but stopped upon hearing his voice.

"Don't," Was all he said.

"Why?" Tifa had to ask. She knew that he would not explain himself if not asked to. He was too polite to not when asked. At least that was true most of the time. A long paused followed, and Tifa waited patiently for an answer she knew was coming.

"I am a monster. I deserve no form of affection," he finally stated, hanging his head low and turning his back to Tifa. He could not bear to look her in the eye. She reminded him so much of Lucrecia. She had the same love for life and those around her. She did not look at Vincent and fear him like others did because of his Turk reputation. Rather, she chose to look past all of that, and see Vincent for who he really was. But Vincent felt that Tifa was different from Lucrecia. Tifa was not only beginning to see past his cold demeanor, but also beginning to understand what was beneath it all.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Vincent," Tifa finally said. Vincent turned to her in surprise. He had never really heard her use such language before.

"It's about time you see and realize that it's not true. At least not in my eyes," she paused, her eyes softening as she continued.

"Monsters are those that do not feel regret for wrongs they have committed," Tifa cried out. She wanted to show Vincent that he was not what he saw himself to be. His self-image was completely warped.

"I feel nothing. I felt nothing, when I killed, Tifa," Vincent pressed, stepping closer towards Tifa, "I killed those that were innocent, and I gave it no second thought. Can you not call me a monster now?" There was a challenge in his voice. It was menacing, and Tifa couldn't help but be scared. She had never roused such emotion in Vincent before. She hadn't even seen such emotion rise from him ever. Except when they had encountered Hojo.

Vincent could feel something boiling inside him. It was self-loathe. He hated himself for being what he was. But he also accepted it as well. He was a monster inside and out.

"Then what are you atoning for then?" Tifa questioned back at him. Vincent stopped in his slow approach towards Tifa.

"My sins," he said. His voice was low and full of venom.

"Then doesn't that mean you're feeling something?" Tifa questioned.

"Don't speak of what you don't know, Tifa,"

"Don't belittle me as if I'm some innocent child. You think you're the only one who's killed the innocent? I have dirt on my hands as well Vincent, and you don't see me moping around calling myself a monster!" The much smaller Tifa yelled up at Vincent. His stubborn nature was starting to really get to her. She stood fuming as Vincent turned away from her, aiming his deadly glare out towards the horizon.

"You're not the only one who's lost someone they love," Tifa started, but was never able to finish as Vincent turned his stoic gaze at her and what she saw in his eyes struck her mute. It was a mix of so many emotions and it was clear as day.

"You have no idea," Vincent gritted out. This made Tifa want to yell out in frustration and scream in his face. Instead she chose to beat him in the chest with her hands and yell out insults to vent her frustration.

"You selfish idiot! You think I have no idea, but since when did you care to hear about MY past!" Her hand was stopped in mid swing by Vincent's crushing grip. But it didn't stop Tifa.

"You are one pathetic being, you know that, Vincent? All you do is think about yourself and your damn Lucrecia! She's dead! And it seems you are too, for all the emotion you've ever shown," Tifa's words left her lips without her really thinking about what she was screaming about. After she had said them, however, she immediately regretted them. No one of AVALANCHE had ever dared mention Lucretia's name around Vincent in fear of his reaction and here she was screaming about her death. She felt Vincent's grip tighten even more and Tifa couldn't help but cry out in pain. She looked at Vincent for mercy, but she found none. All she saw were his cold dark eyes boring into her own.

"You're right, Tifa. You're right about everything," he finally seethed out as he looked down at her. His eyes darkening menacingly with each word that he grit out of his clenched jaw. This was not the reaction she was looking for in him. And then he began to walk away from her releasing her hand rather forcefully.

"Wait!" Tifa found herself shouting and reaching for his arm. The contact of skin on skin burned Vincent to his very soul, and he reluctantly pulled away from her touch despite the pain it caused him. Tifa hadn't expected him to be so violent either. He was now within mere inches from her face. Tifa could feel his overwhelming presence looming on her, and felt that he was perhaps even trembling ever so slightly in anger. Or was it herself in fear? She couldn't help be feel very intimidated and frightened of him. He was like a wild creature. Unpredictable.

It was the look. It was always the look. The look of absolute fear that was always forever seared into Vincent's memory. The cries of monster that ringed in his ears each time he faced that look. And yet, he could not let go of it. It was a part of him. Everything was, the memories, the gun, the fear, and the monster.

It was the same look of fear he saw in all those he met. The innkeeper, the gunsmith, the old granny down the street. Everyone. But one stuck out like a sore thumb. Lucrecia. He remembered again and again, that very look that struck her speechless that fateful night. The night that was supposed to pull him out of the living hell that he called life, not suck him further and eat him alive. It was a hell that still gnaws at his very conscious.

She looked so much like her. The dark brown hair, the large round eyes and the perfectly lush lips. Vincent found himself becoming lost in the moving lips. They seemed to be saying something. But strangely enough, he couldn't hear anything. All he heard was 'monster, monster, monster' repeated over and over again. Screams, taunts, accusations. He could hear it all.

A dull ache started in his metal appendix. Something that was very out of place. He could feel his fingers twitching. A dull ache also emanated from where he was hit earlier, both in the arm and the leg. He hadn't told anyone about being hit in the leg while they were up in the Nibelheim mountains. It was where he had obtained the one dart from. Suddenly, all in but a second, the pain turned from dull to stabbing.

His last humane thought was simple: what the hell was in that dart?

And then Chaos.

Tifa couldn't help but scream in alarm. One moment he was somewhat fine, and the next he was trembling, twitching, growling and now on the ground holding himself and screaming in pain. She wanted to do something, anything to help ease his torment. She knew what was coming, and when it came she also knew she had no where to run. She bent down and grabbed him by his shoulders. Calling his name, and trying to pull him out of wherever he was.

She caught his eyes on hers. And once again, fear struck her dumb. She merely stared, frozen in place by his gaze. All Vincent saw was that look. It was all he saw and he felt his inner demons raging for it to go away.

"STOP!" The voice that screamed was a mixture of human and beast. Vincent yelled again, and then repeatedly until the word became an utter roar of madness. With a spray of blood, wings tore from Vincent's back and spread out to it's full glory in the daylight. Tifa found, in the next moment, Vincent's claw around her neck once again, this time the grip seemingly unrelinquishing. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't speak, she was scared for her life.

And then as sudden as Chaos came, Chaos was gone. Now in front of her squatted a panting Vincent. His wings were retracting slowly from it's origin and with no more of a small grunt in expression of pain were they gone. Back to where they hid themselves from others views.

Tifa was struck speechless. She had no idea what was happening. She watched in fascination as Vincent began to roll up his arm sleeve. What he revealed earned him a gasp from Tifa. There on his bicep was a large bruise forming around a small puncture in his skin. Upon this sight, Tifa's memories were jolted back to life and she remembered the dart that she had pulled out of Vincent the previous day. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. Her throat and mouth were completely dry, and not a single noise would come from her vocal chords.

With his breathing under better control, Vincent reached his human hand to touch the bruise on his arm. Everything was completely oblivious to Vincent. He had no idea that Tifa sat across from him watching his every move. Something about this discoloured skin tickled at his memories. However, the memory was just out of reach. The thirty years of sleep he had been induced into had made him forget a lot of his past. Though he dreamed, he dreamed not of past experiences. He dreamed of nightmares. He heard a slight murmur come from a nearby source. He raised his head to identify it and he came face to face with Tifa's ragged appearance. Her hair was disheveled and her clothes were full of dirt. Her stared for a while, despite it's disrespectful nature, before he came crashing down on reality. Everything came together now. The red markings around her throat, the dirt on her clothes, and the hidden hand behind her back. He knew what had happened. He didn't need a second more to think. He looked away, unable to look at Tifa any longer.

He had committed yet another sin.

But unknowingly, Tifa had forgiven him before he had even set his eyes on her. She offered him a gentle smile as she moved closer to him. Despite her loud movements, he continued to look away from her. His head was turned to his left and his eyes were cast downwards allowing dark strands of ebony bangs to fall across his eyes and obscure part of his face. He suddenly pierced her with his crimson eyes, and they were full of sorrow and something else she could not quite place.

"Forgive me, Tifa. I have sinned," he uttered in his usual low monotone voice. Tifa couldn't help but let out a little laugh at this.

"Don't be stupid, Vincent. There are underlying factors to all actions. I know you didn't mean to hurt me," Tifa asserted. She, in a way, shocked herself by her own words. She watched as Vincent's eyes narrowed at her, his attitude and posture becoming cold and hostile. What had called for this sudden change, she hoped that it wasn't her. She was merely speaking of what she truly felt. She had a feeling that Vincent wasn't all to believing of her words, perhaps hearing it before.

"How could you forgive me so easily? I've nearly cost you your life." There was fire rising in his voice again, but barely detectable. Tifa found herself unable to provide him with an answer. Why had she forgiven him so easily? She found herself asking herself that question over and over again in her head. He had nearly, like he said, killed her and yet she laughed it off. Now she was starting to understand where Vincent's hostility was coming from.

Vincent lowered his head dejectedly before he struggled slightly to his feet. Exhaustion was etched all over his face. Tifa however, remained seated, watching him from below. He turned quickly to leave, but was stopped upon hearing Tifa's voice. Turning his head slightly over his shoulder he waited for Tifa to continue.

"Your motives were good, Vincent. My heart tells me so," Tifa did not know where she was going with that. She wanted to say something. Anything to make him stay and try to understand her. Vincent turned around to face her now, with a deep scowl on his face. He felt like grabbing her and shaking her in an attempt to put some sense into her brain. He could not understand why one would forgive such a person as himself. But he resisted the urge to do so. Taking several shaky breathes while closing his eyes, he repressed his urge mentally. During this, Tifa had stood up and now came right up to Vincent to look him in the face underneath the bangs. His eyes flew open in alarm upon detecting a presence so near him. Looking into her eyes, he continued to question her mentally, but physically, he could not get himself to voice his thoughts. Whether in fear that he would hurt or feelings or whatever else it could be, he knew not. He continued to lose himself in the depths of her eyes and his thoughts began to drift off deeper.

Tifa fidgeted uncomfortably under Vincent's fixed gaze. He didn't exactly seem to be looking at her and yet he was. She became worried as this continued for a while despite Tifa breaking off the eye contact. He continued to look, and even appeared to be holding his breath. Since the last time Tifa had tried to break Vincent away from his inner thoughts during his sleep, she was greeted with a rather unpleasant response. She became very tempted to pick up the stray branch on the ground and poke him from as far away as the single branch allowed. She heard a throat being cleared as she contemplated using the stick and she turned her head upwards to meet Vincent's back. Somehow, he had managed in such a short period of time to have broken away from his daze, and turn around ever so silently. His hair billowed in the wind as the silence continued to grow between them. Once again, he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. Trapped in his own inner monologue.

"Tifa, forgive me for doubting you," he finally said. This caught Tifa off guard as she had began to lose herself in her own thoughts as well. He had said it so quietly, that Tifa feared that it was only a fragment of her imagination. Perhaps she had wanted to hear him say something along those lines so badly that her hearing began to play tricks on her. But it was confirmed when he whirled around to face her. He looked even slightly offended for a while that Tifa had pretty much downright denied him of a response. Tifa took this chance to act as quickly as possible.

"I completely understand, Vincent. Don't worry about it," she said as cheerfully as possible without overdoing it. His features seemed to relax more then. Tifa noted that Vincent was definitely more readable without the cloak. Perhaps that was why he was so attached to it. After all, there were no scars on his lower profile that Tifa could see. Tifa noted to herself that more undercover investigation was needed. Tifa nearly giggled at the thought of her attempting to spy on Vincent. For all she knew, he could possibly even know that she had tried to look down his shirt just the night before. She felt his eyes on her again, and she looked up to be met the pair of crimson eyes that seemed contemplating for a fleeting moment. Upon being this close to him, she confirmed what she had thought she saw earlier, golden flecks in his eyes. Now it seemed to not be as frightening anymore. If anything, more stunning than ever. She found herself wondering what colour his eyes were before his "transformation" but her train of thought was broken as he turned to leave. But then, he stopped in midstep. He had only gotten a couple of steps away from her before stopping again. He turned back around and faced her. She caught the fleeting moment of contemplation across his eyes once more.

Tifa watched him curiously as he seemed to ponder about something. He took a step towards her and Tifa couldn't help but take a step back. She watched in confusion as Vincent took a deep breath, and then approached her faster. Soon, she felt warmth enclosing her body. Unknowingly, she had closed her eyes amidst is all, and upon opening them, she realized that she was enclosed in his arms. She could feel his muscular chest and arms around her, but before her mind really registered anything, it was over and Vincent was retrieving back to the campsite leaving Tifa with a grin that spread across her face from ear to ear.

* * *

Very long chapter! YES! Hehe, this is actually a rewritten version. Somewhat. My collection of takeouts are growing! 

Thanks for all those who've reviewed so far. I seriously seriously appreciate it! You guys make me feel soo happy! Anyhow, more coming! I have several ideas, I just need to put them together...But sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I had to figure out what was going to happen in the next chapter before I submitted this. But i got it now!

Bishojo Beauty


	13. Conflict

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 13

-

**NOTE:** The part in the italics are a flashback. Just telling ya now just so everything makes sense. Anyhow, ENJOY!

-

With a skip in her step, Tifa walked back to the campsite. Perhaps Tifa had made more progress with Vincent than she had originally thought. Unless, he had faked it all and it was all a show. Tifa kept this possibility in the back of her mind where it would not be able to put a damper on her current mood. Upon reaching the campsite, she was greeted by an unpleasant sight. Vincent and Kael appeared to be in a heated discussion with each other. She couldn't make out the words just yet. She creeped closer and closer as quietly as possible. The tone that they were using seemed to not be very friendly to each other. Finally she was within hearing range.

"Don't do this to me again, Vincent," Kael warned, "You should know better than to do everything by yourself!" Vincent threw a scowl at this statement in Kael's direction over his shoulder as he had his back turned to his older brother.

"Don't tell me what to do. You have nothing over me," Vincent said in a deep and menacing voice that Tifa had never heard him use before. He began to walk away.

"Don't disregard me like that! I raised you!" Now Kael was shouting. He grabbed Vincent by the shoulder and spun him around to face him. Vincent looked like he wanted to say something back, but instead, he sighed in defeat, hanging his head low so his hair covered most of his face.

"Damnit, Vincent," Kael cursed under his breath. Tifa watched as Kael took a couple of deep breaths to calm the anger that boiled inside of him. It didn't seem that Vincent was going to say anything and Tifa found herself caught in an awkward situation. Should she pretend that she did not hear anything or did they already know that she was standing there behind the thick underbrush? The tension between the two seemed to grow thicker as Vincent continued to remain silent. Tifa then decided that she should break the growing tension between the two before it grew out of control. Rustling through the bushes loudly, she walked into view. The two brother turned to her with menacing glares making Tifa instantly regret her choice of action.

"Did I interrupt something?" Tifa said, feeling stupider and stupider by the moment. She had obviously did.

"No," Vincent was the one to speak as he brushed by his brother, taking the opportunity to escape his brother's questioning. He began to busy himself by packing up and getting ready for the rest of the trip to Cosmo Canyon where he planned to get a lot of questions answered. Tifa watched as Kael made his way over to Vincent and said something too low and too quickly for Tifa to hear. But whatever he said made Vincent stand straight up and rigid immediately. Kael began walking away from Vincent but stopped when Vincent called his name. He turned to him expectantly. Vincent sighed and began rolling up his sleeve just as he had earlier revealing the rather nasty bruise forming around the small puncture in his arm.

"Those darts," Vincent started, "I don't know what's in them. But they've been making me...slightly ill." Tifa's brows raised in surprise. Ill? What she saw was more than ill! Tifa had a feeling it had caused Chaos to take over. But she didn't voice her thoughts. Instead she remained silent and observing. Kael started to make his way to Vincent and raised a hand to feel his forehead. Vincent tired to pull out of his reach, but Kael was quick and pulled Vincent towards him rather forcefully.

"Gods, Vincent! When were you planning to tell me that?" Kael practically shouted when he touched Vincent forehead. From Kael's reaction she could tell that Vincent must be feeling rather hot to the touch. Tifa herself began to worry. It wasn't difficult to make the connection between the dart and Vincent's "illness". Something was definitely up.

Vincent didn't reply to Kael question, but followed his orders to rest. Once it appeared that Vincent was doing as he was told, Kael stormed off announcing that he had to cool off for a while. Tifa concluded that he had quite the temper. Or at least when it came to Vincent he did. Tifa walked slowly closer to Vincent's still form caution of his every move. Though he wasn't moving, she was expecting the unexpected now with him.

"Vincent, I think I know what's going on," Tifa started. She knew it was better to start off this way than asking what was wrong. She knew that she would never get a direct answer if she did. But what Vincent replied with shocked her even more.

"Don't tell him," There was a certain tone of pleading Tifa had never thought she's hear in his voice. There was definitely something between the two brother that Tifa clearly does not know about. It was as if there was this underlying grudge that was held by them both. It was as if they both wronged each other, and neither of them could forgive each other and yet they still cared about each other. Tifa never had another siblings so she figured that it would be difficult to imagine their situation.

"I won't," Tifa replied softly, looking directly into her eyes as if that somehow solidified her promise. He nodded in reply. He was now prodding gently at the dark blue, nearly purple skin on his arm.

"It seems familiar, but, I can't quite place it. I've felt it before," Vincent whispered. Almost as if he was speaking only to himself. For all Tifa knew, he could be. Once again drifting off to his own little world.

They sat quietly in each other's company. It was surprising to Tifa how their silence was actually comforting. She didn't feel the need to have to talk and break the silence. But then, silence sometimes meant that you were left to the thoughts of your subconscious. Sometimes they were good, but most of the time they were bad. Tifa turned to Vincent to see if he was perhaps drifting off to the part of his subconscious that Tifa had just pulled away from. Instead of a contemplating Vincent, she saw a sleeping Vincent. His head rested against a tree where he sat under. His hair was thrown back and his face was turned towards the sun. Tifa watched for a while before scolding herself and pulling her eyes off of his ethereal beauty. Tifa decided to busy herself by taking apart the tent they had set up. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Kael returning. He seemed to be calmer than when he left. Tifa signaled for him to be quiet as he came closer. He nodded in acknowledgment when his eyes fell upon the sleeping Vincent. Quietly, and quickly, the two began to pack.

-

Not long after, they were done and ready to set off again. Both Tifa and Kael wanted to allow the sleeping Vincent to rest longer, but they had really needed to go. They had prolonged their leave long enough. Together they went over to wake him up.

First they tried to call his name. But he did not respond.

Then they tried to shake him. He still did not respond.

At this, panic rose quickly and they raced to find a pulse and check his breathing. To their relief they existed. But he seemed to not be waking up to their calls and shakes. They tried a little longer, but still there was no response. Something was definitely wrong now. Kael became a swearing mess and he continued to try to wake him. Tifa tried to think logically of what do to.

They tried everything. Slapping him gently on the face, splashing water on his face and even rolling him a couple of times on the ground, but nothing worked. He remained unconscious.

"What the hell's going on?" Kael shouted. Tifa wished that she knew the answer to that question. But she had a sure feeling it was all connected to whatever substance was injected in to Vincent when the darts pierced his skin.

"We should start heading to Cosmo Canyon. At least maybe there, he could get some medical attention," Kael suggested. Tifa became wary of his suggestion. She knew for a fact that Vincent would avoid the doctors as much as he could even in a life or death situation. But right now, it didn't seem like he was going to have a choice, so she agreed. At least for now, until they got him to Cosmo Canyon.

A look at Vincent's face concerned Tifa greatly. He seemed in an unrestful sleep. Unconsciously suffering from something that Tifa and Kael could not identify. He was suffering something that Tifa and Kael could not place because it was all in his head.

--

_There was an overwhelming amount of light shining down into his eyes. They were bright. So bright that everything else seemed black. He could only make out faint shapes as he attempted to look around the room. His head was heavy, and his mind was foggy. Struggling to get up, Vincent found himself unable to. He could feel something physically holding him down. He tried to remember what had happened before he ended up in this awkward position, but he could not. Everything of the past seemed nonexistent. It was too much of a blur to be able to identify anything. _

_There was a chuckle to his side. He looked and squinted his eyes in an attempt to identify its origins. He tried to form words and speak but nothing came out but sputtering and other strange noises that were anything but words. _

_"Don't worry, you won't feel anything after this," the man said, the white light reflecting off his circular glasses. This was all he saw before he felt a sharp pain in the crook of his arm. It was a blinding pain, which eventually caused him to completely black out. _

_Waking up once again. He found himself still lying down and unable to move once again. But there were no longer lights shining down on him from above. He tried to shake his head clear, but that only served to make the room begin to spin. He struggled to focus on an object. Something moved in the corner of his eye. He swung his head in that direction to identify the being, and he immediately regretted it as he became even dizzier and even sick to the stomach. He was surprised when he could actually talk. _

_"What did you do to me?" He asked the man in the shadows. He couldn't make out much of the man. Except those damn glasses. _

_"You'll soon see," the man replied sinisterly. Before Vincent blacked out again. He managed to catch a sight of his tormentor. What he saw made him scream. He couldn't distinguish whether he screamed mentally or outloud. _

_He saw Hojo. _

_Upon waking up for the third time, he found himself, this time, on the ground. Looking around, he took in his messy surroundings. Papers were scattered everywhere. Machines were torn, broken and emitting flashes of electricity. Chemicals stunk up the room as vials were broken. Vincent couldn't help but wonder what the hell happened. He heard that same voice now chuckling. He looked for the origin of this voice and found it. Right in front of him in plain sight. This made his blood boil. He began to be unable to think clearly and acted unrationally. He screamed and dove for the professor, one of the rulers of the hell he lived in. With his hands outstretched he aimed for the man's throat. But his movements were sluggish, and the professor easily dove out of his reach. Laughing louder this time, he taunted Vincent some more. _

_"Come on, Valentine." _

_"No wonder Lucrecia left you so easily for me."_

_"She bears MY child!" Hojo screamed in his face. _

_Unknowingly to Vincent, Hojo was trying to provoke something out of him. Vincent took his bait in his ignorance. He flew in blind rage once again at Hojo who did not budge from his spot. Soon, Vincent had his hands around his neck and he began to squeeze. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as his emotions got the better of him. He tried to hold them back knowing that emotions were the ultimate weakness in a fight, but they came flooding. He couldn't control them. He had lost all control a long time ago and now it was proven at a critical moment. He tried to choke Hojo harder and harder to wipe the stupid smirk he had plastered on his face. But the professor seemed unharmed. Vincent finally then noticed that he had a rather large needle jutting out of his arm where he had been injected earlier. This new needle was quickly emptying his arm. For the first time he took notice of the rather large bruise that formed around the whole in which the last needle took its residence in. Vincent felt a horrible pain all over his body. A sharp ringing filled his ears momentarily. It caused him to left go of Hojo and grasp his head instead, placing his hands over his ears. He grunted in discomfort as the ringing grew louder. And then, as quickly as it came it was gone. It was replaced by a rush of triggers to his senses. He began to hear better, see better, smell better, and move faster. But his movements were halted by absolute pain. Vincent looked down as he noticed his arms began to turn a deep scaly purple. He couldn't comprehend what was happening to him. Mostly, his main focus was on exacting vengeance on the man in front of him. Smirking now, and standing above him, looking down on him. _

_"Success," was all Hojo said, and Vincent was engulfed in blinding pain. _

_He blacked out. _

* * *

I must apologize that this is where I need to cut it off. I just haven't been able to put together anything good lately. This is basically as much as I've been able to produce? Hehe, I hope this chapter was okay. I'm unfortunately having a lot of difficulty. Help! TT 

But just a question for all of you: Hojo or Vincent Sephiroth's father?

It doesn't really matter. I'm just curious. If there's anything funny about this chapter. Let me know ASAP so I can look into it and fix it! And thanks to all of you who've given me feedback. I really appreciate it all! More to come! I had three whole pages written, but it's all junk now...sadly. I'm stuck.


	14. Back For More

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 14

The remaining route for the threesome was fairly simple. They were already passed the most strenuous part of the trip, and now it was just a somewhat straight walk. The only problem was that, one of them didn't seem like he'd be walking for a while.

Sighing, Tifa debated on her choices on how to get Vincent to Cosmo Canyon. She could either 1. Enlist the help of fellow AVALANCHE member Cid, and have him fly them over, or 2. Carry him. The first option seemed much better to Tifa but whether that was the case for Vincent was a totally different story. Considering the state he was in, Tifa was sure that he would not like other people to know about it. But Nanaki was an exception. They had planned this from the beginning, and Vincent knew of it. Cid he would not know of, and Tifa figured he would be quite upset if he found out. Right now, Tifa did not like the idea of an upset Vincent noting the upset Vincent earlier in the day. Tifa shuddered mentally.

She had found herself scared, but not scared at the same time. It was strange. Tifa forced herself to not think of it at the moment. She had more important issues to attend to.

She glanced over at her silent companion. For a moment, he looked almost identical to Vincent in his brooding form over the real Vincent.

"So...um," Tifa became at a lost of words as soon as she started. She watched as Kael turned his cold gaze at her.

"I'll carry. Let's go," was all he said and with that they were off.

-

The walk to Cosmo Canyon was quite uneventful. They walked in something of a semblance to peace. Not many monsters approached them. But the feeling of dread of Vincent's health kept them on edge. They were both afraid of the outcome of the illness that had befallen him.

Finally, after a short walk made long with the burden of carrying Vincent, they were within the outskirts of Cosmo Canyon. The place, generally, had not changed much in the past few years. Nanaki was one of the main residents of the area. He was well known and respected among all of the citizens of Cosmo Canyon.

Tifa phoned Nanaki with the PHS that she refused to let go. Even after meteor had passed and peace fell over the planet. She quickly informed him of Vincent's current status and her location. In the kindness and understanding that Nanaki always possessed, without a second thought, had sent for people to help them move the unconscious Vincent in. She thanked him graciously on the phone before hanging up. Not long after, four bulky individuals were making their way towards them. Gently, they hoisted Vincent up onto a small stretcher and carried him the rest of the way to Cosmo Canyon.

Upon reaching the small town, Tifa, Kael and the unconscious Vincent were greeted by Nanaki. Immediately, Nanaki directed the four men to bring Vincent to his home where he could rest properly.

He then turned to Tifa and Kael and gave them a warm greeting.

"Hey, Nanaki. Long time no see. I'd like you to meet someone," Tifa replied, turning to Kael. He looked rather curious of the beast in front of him. She introduced the two quickly as they strode closely behind the men carrying Vincent.

"A friend of Tifa is friend of mine," Nanaki replied. Kael smiled at this. Tifa had to admit, he looked rather nice with a smile. If her mind wasn't already on a certain other man, she would have definitely wanted to get to know Kael much better. Tifa then realized, at this moment, that somewhere along the way, she had forgotten all about Cloud. And if felt good. Sparing not another thought on the blond she continued chatting with her companions.

"I've never been to Cosmo Canyon before," Kael said with much wonder in his voice.

"I hope you enjoy your time here," Nanaki responded. Tifa loved it in Cosmo Canyon. She had always found the people at Cosmo Canyon welcoming and very polite. She loved it here. She had even once considered moving here at one point. But couldn't exactly get herself to settle down just yet. There was just something missing in her life that she couldn't quite fill yet.

They were led to one of the guest rooms in Nanaki's house which would be where Vincent lay at the moment and continue to lay throughout the day, and eventually night. Tifa had volunteered herself to watch over him with no hesitation. Making herself comfortable she watched Vincent sleep for a lack of better things to do. Not that Vincent-watching was all that bad. Tifa found that she actually liked to look at him. She couldn't imagine anybody who wouldn't. She still could not get over what he looked like without the cloak, and now with his hair thrown back away from his face, he looked good. Real good.

She began to wonder what Vincent would look like if he smiled like Kael did earlier. Tifa found Kael to not be as striking as Vincent. And if Kael looked that good smiling, Tifa could only wonder what Vincent would look like. This alone caused Tifa to smile. And for once, she didn't care. She didn't deny it to herself that the mere thought of Vincent could make her smile. She felt drawn to Vincent in so many ways more than looks. Tifa fought the urge to pull Vincent's lips back into a smile. It was definitely tempting considering the fact that he did not seem to wake despite their vicious efforts earlier in the day. So Tifa found it safe to assume that a little pull on his lips would not make him wake.

A throat was cleared, knocking Tifa out of her fancy. It was Nanaki. Slowly, Nanaki made it over to Tifa's side, eyeing her with his one good eye.

"So who is our new companion?" He asked. Tifa smiled. She was relieved that he did not comment on her staring at Vincent.

"Vincent's brother," Tifa said while trying to hide her growing smile knowing that this would definitely shock him. She watched as the beast's eyebrows shot up before he hummed in response. It was good to know that she was not the only one that was shocked at this revelation. Vincent had definitely failed to mention that he had other family. But then again, it was hard enough for him to say anything more than what he had. Nanaki had never really seen Vincent's face due to his height. From Nakaki's point of view, all that he had ever really seen was his cloak. So he couldn't exactly say he knew that the two were related.

"Have you seen the bruises?" Nanaki asked. Tifa nodded in reply. She always knew the beast had a sharp eye. Tifa quickly then informed him of the recent events that brought them here. And also about Chaos.

"There's a certain danger in keeping him here," Nanaki stated. Being the guardian of Cosmo Canyon, Tifa could understand the reason for all his concern. Tifa was concerned as well. She knew that once Vincent was Chaos, there was no telling what he would do. There was no way to control him after that.

"But there's no other option. A friend is in need," Nanaki said with a grin, which wrinkled the scar over his missing eye. The feline creature then turned and padded slowly away. Once he exited the room, Tifa turned her attention back to the prone form that was Vincent Valentine.

It was very rare to see him in such a state, and it struck a certain chord in Tifa's heart. She didn't like it. Vincent, to her, is one of those people who never get sick or hurt, or if they do, they're always up and running in no time. But this was not the case of Vincent. It was past midnight now and his status did not change one bit from when they tried to wake him the other day. Sufficient medical attention was to arrive early next morning, as Nanaki had informed her earlier in the day.

Sighing in exhaustion, she tried to focus her attention away from Vincent. But her mind did not allow her. The brunette's thoughts just kept going back to the dark man that lay on the bed before her. On closer examination, she noticed that his lips were moving. Curious, she leaned in closer in an attempt to hear what he could possibly be saying.

Then suddenly, she heard the window smash near her. She looked up to spot three men flying into the room. They quickly unattached themselves from the ropes attached to their waists and drew out familiar guns at Tifa. She sat still with her eyes wide. She thought surely the others would come running by now. But no one came. _The crash was quite loud, there was no way no one heard. _Tifa thought to herself. Cursing mentally, she tried to think calmly for a solution to this situation.

"If you know what's best for you, lady, you'd turn around and place your hands on that wall," the man in the middle said. Tifa knew that she'd be too easy of a target the moment she turned her back on them. But she didn't know what else to do. She stood up slowly, keeping her eyes focused on the three men and raised her hands. The three men were dressed like the one she took down a couple days ago. All of this was obviously connected. The man in the middle saw the realization in the brunette of her fate if she turned around.

"You can watch if you like then," he said, smirking. Tifa felt like knocking the lights out of that man, but he was too far for her to launch an attack without getting shot by the other men who now walked over to where Vincent laid unconscious and roughly lifted him up and reattached themselves to their ropes. The third one did the same. Just then, gunshots from downstairs sounded. But the three did not seem surprised.

_Was this a planned attack? Had they known they were going to be in Cosmo Canyon all along? _Tifa found herself asking. Cursing, she watched as the three men smiled mockingly at her before grappling quickly down the window from where they came. Tifa rushed after them then, and looked out the window. There she saw a man who made her blood boil. He waved at her with a gentle smile on his face that quickly turned sinister.

"Chester!" Tifa shouted angrily, her hands gripping the window sill. The elderly man had gone from kind and gentle to corrupt and deceiving. She did not understand though. From what she saw earlier, Chester was supposed to be dead. Either way, Tifa figured that he was alive right now, and he was taking Vincent. That was all that really mattered. Tifa pulled back in pain as some glass cut into her palms. Swearing, she rushed downstairs. She met Kael and Nanaki, alive and well, downstairs with either dead or horribly injured and unconscious men surrounding them.

"They've got Vincent!" Was all Tifa shouted and the three of them were flying out the front doors. They were still carrying Vincent when they burst through the doors and a vehicle was just pulling up. Most likely to bring the men and Vincent all to wherever. The three chased after them though it seemed impossible to catch them. They were already too far and in the midst of throwing Vincent in the vehicle.

-

Vincent couldn't ignore the feeling no matter how hard he tried. He was just so damn tired. But the feeling was strange. It felt as if someone was carrying him. Growling in frustration, he decided to open his eyes to see what was happening. Indeed, his eyes told him that he was being carried. And by men he didn't like the sight of. His body reacted before his mind could and he found himself instantly out of the men's grasps and on the floor. He had caught them all unsuspectingly.

He landed just at the base of the vehicle, and he rolled quickly away, taking a man down with him. He caught sight of the men around him whipping out those tranquilizer guns. Vincent knew he was fighting a losing battle like this, and especially without Death Penalty. But he refused to give up.

Using his momentum, he rolled into a crouching position and watched for the men's next reaction. He knew that he would be able to avoid the first spray of shots, but the second he was not so sure. He easily dodged the first series of shots as he predicted while assessing his enemy. They seemed rather untrained, but he did not want to assume too much.

With inhuman speed he rushed the one man, he saw panic grown in his eyes with every step that he became closer. It all happened within a second and now his face was embedded in Vincent's claw. He fell unconscious onto the floor. Vincent did not wait for him to fall as his fist was already flying towards the neck of the other man's throat taking him down as well.

His blood thirst was growing, and it was, as always, insatiable. This made him the perfect Turk. He killed with no remorse. Before he knew it, and before any of his attackers knew it, they were all down on the ground, incapable of acting any further. Vincent's full attention was now on the last man standing. Chester.

"Just as the files said, you're a success," he said. There was a certain glint in his eye that told Vincent he knew something. There were a couple of key words that hit Vincent like a truck at full force.

"What files?" Vincent asked cautiously, even though he could already guess at the correct answer. Chester smiled deviously. He seemed to be enjoying this quite a bit.

"Hojo's."

Everything around Vincent seemed to black out when his assumptions were confirmed. All he could see was Chester. He didn't quite comprehend how he was alive at this moment. But this moment also called for more important things to occupy his mind.

All he could really hear was Chester. But all he could think about was Hojo. _Hojo's files? How? Where? What? _Vincent's mind was going around in circles. He couldn't seem to focus on anything or figure anything out.

"Vincent!" A female voice suddenly burst into his closed off reality. He whipped around to catch sight of Tifa running towards him.

"Are you okay?" She asked him once she reached his side. She did not look at him however, when she asked this question. She had her eyes focused solely on Chester.

"I'm fine," Vincent gritted out. He decided to answer verbally considering the fact that she would not see his answer physically.

"What's going on here?" She asked.

"This does not involve you, Tifa," Chester replied in an all too gentle tone. But Tifa did not get tricked by it this time. She knew that it was all a show. Her thoughts began to drift. She could see how Chester was a former Turk. He was cold-hearted on the inside, but warm on the outside. He was very easy to believe and trust. It was very deceiving, even for Tifa. Tifa could picture the shock on his victims' faces when he pulled out his weapon that foretold their future. She couldn't help but think of the possibility that Vincent may be just as deceiving. It was all possible for Vincent to have faked it all, and Tifa was once again being foolish and falling into their traps. _Could it be?_ She asked herself as she turned her attention now to the tall dark man standing beside her. He turned his eyes down to her as well, and their eyes met. Chester took advantage of this moment and pulled out his gun. He aimed for Tifa and pulled the trigger.

* * *

I've finally got it going flowing once again...kinda, I'm stuck at the next chapter right now...TT Hopefully, it'll all work out! I kind of had to fix this chapter majorly. I made a big mistake, and i hope no one got hold of that copy! Even so, it wouldn't be that bad. Just a little confusing! 

Anyhow, enjoy! And stay tuned for more!

I wanna say a special thanks to **fire-emblem-girl**! Your review was very encouraging!

Thanks to those who've reviewed too! I've read all of them and they've all touched me too!

Bishojo Beauty


	15. Fears

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 15

Everything happened all too quickly. Before Tifa knew it, she was once again in Vincent arms, spinning now. She heard a gunshot sound. A grunt. And then a louder, more deafening, and much closer shot sounded. She felt Vincent's body jerk reflexively against the gun's recoil.

Then they were falling.

Tifa waited for impact on hard ground, but it never came. There was a slight jolt, but she felt unharmed. She looked up at her saviour and realized that he did not have the same fate as her. His face was scrunched in pain, and his breathing was heavy. More gunshots sounded close by and a screech of tires and revving of an engine followed.

Then, silence.

Tifa looked up further to face Kael, who still had his gun up and tracing the retreating vehicle. Chester was no where to be seen.

"Tifa, could you...?" Vincent grunted with his hands grasping her shoulders. Tifa then took note of their proximity. She was completely on top of him and she could feel his every breath through the rise of his chest and the puffs of air that escaped his slightly parted lips. His warm breath tickled her cheek and sent tingles down her spine. With a small squeak, she immediately jumped off of Vincent and helped him up into a sitting position.

The brunette, then realized that Vincent had taken the shot for her. _Would a Turk who did not care for you do that?_ Tifa's mind began to ask her causing her to fell horrible for the thoughts that had drifted through her mind right before this incident. She was definitely wrong.

The brunette looked around to inspect his wounds. There was a bullet hole in his left shoulder and was currently bleeding quite profusely. She watched as Vincent tried to check the wound by himself. He did it quite efficiently with quite a bit of ease and professionalism. Tifa figured it would seem that it was pretty much deemed necessary for him to be skilled as so. Life as a Turk must have called for it.

"Are you okay?" Tifa asked. She got a mere nod in reply. Vincent did not trust his voice to not betray him and sound out his discomfort. Kael then came over and knelt down next to the two. He had a perplexed look on his face and he did not take his eyes away from where the retreating vehicle was last seen.

"Chester," was all he said.

"Yeah," came Vincent's soft reply. None of them really understood at this point how Chester was able to had been standing before them only moments ago. But it was an undeniable fact that he was. Through what Tifa and Vincent experienced during their brutal AVALANCHE days, it seemed that sometimes death was easier to cheat than one would believe.

Vincent scoffed shaking his head and loose strands of hair fell into his face. Tifa instinctively brushed them away. Vincent's eyes shot to her immediately and Tifa did not flinch for once. She just merely smiled as she tucked the loose strands behind his ear and placed her hands back onto her knees.

Tifa had come to a realization in this short time. Not long ago, she had found that she completely forgotten about Cloud, whom she believed she loved. And instead, someone else had snuck their way into her mind and her heart as well. She was slowly, but surely falling for a man none other than Vincent Valentine. When this had happened, she could not say. It just did. Somehow.

If anyone had told her that she would one day end up falling for Vincent she would have laughed until tears came running down her face. But that would have been then. Now she would have agreed with them without hesitation.

This realization made Tifa much more confident and bolder as well.

"Thank you, Vincent," she whispered, looking deeply into his eyes in search of his true feelings. He turned his eyes away from hers and focused on something that seemed much more interesting near his feet as he once again nodded in reply.

Tifa took the opportunity at hand and reached out, giving Vincent a gentle peck on his left cheek. When Tifa pulled back. She found the look on Vincent's face absolutely priceless. For Vincent only however. Any other man, Tifa would have brushed it off.

Vincent's lips were parted ever so slightly and his eyes were slightly wide and full of shock. All abnormalities for Vincent.

Tifa had finally been able to catch the stoic man off guard. Whopping in her mind at her accomplishment, she smiled once again at Vincent. That was all the time Vincent needed to collect his composure somewhat. But Tifa couldn't help but believe that she saw a slight quirk of his lips before he pursed them together.

"Let's get you back to bed," Tifa said as she helped Vincent up. She made the mistake of making eye contact with Kael as when she did, he began smiling and winking at her. Vincent's looming presence beside her, however, kept her from beating Kael to a pulp.

That night, everyone slept peacefully. Even Vincent.

-

Tifa awoke the next morning to find herself nice and refreshed. The sun was bright and the sky was an endless array of blue. There was not a single cloud in sight. Leaving the guest room that Nanaki had to generously allowed her to reside for the night, she found that it was only her and Nanaki that were awake. For some reason, it just seemed right that the Valentine brothers would be morning people. Shrugging it off, she proceeded down the stairs to greet Nanaki who sat in the living room reading a book by a rather large window that overlooked the canyon. Nanaki resided in a home that was quite high up as compared to the other homes. This offered amazing views.

"Good morning, Tifa. I hope you slept well," Nanaki said with a grin.

"I did, thank you," she replied.

"Did you have breakfast yet?" She found herself asking. Her days from bartending at her 7th Heaven resurfacing. A shake of the head was all Tifa needed and she was off and into the kitchen.

Not long after, the smell of fresh coffee filled the room, followed by the smell of a usual homemade breakfast. Nanaki felt his stomach growling at the very scent of the food coming from the kitchen. As if just on cue, the Valentine brothers came down the stairs and directly to the kitchen.

Tifa greeted them warmly and urged them to take a seat. She took note of how much better Vincent appeared. She also took note of his change in clothes.

Pajamas. They were all still in pajamas. It would not of had been a big deal if it did not involve Vincent. She had never seen Vincent sleep or wake during their AVALANCHE days, so Vincent in pajamas was definitely a first here. Though still clad in completely black with his bandana still on, he looked very different still. He wore a simple black t-shirt that accented his form in ways Tifa never thought possible of a t-shirt and loose black pants. Giving sight of something she had never seen before. Milky white toes peeked from underneath his long pants. She put her observation of Vincent on hold for the moment as the food was almost ready. After a couple of quick final preparations, the food was done and served.

They all ate in a comfortable silence. Kael stopped silently as if he remembered something he had forgotten.

"These eggs, they taste just like how someone used to make them from when I was a kid. I can't remember who though..." he paused in deep thought.

"Madame Jolei," Vincent interjected.

"Oh, yes, that's right!" Kael exclaimed, taking another mouthful of her eggs.

"Who's Madame Jolei?" Tifa inquired, curiously. Vincent did not answer, so Kael decided he would.

"She was a wonderful lady who took us in when we were younger. We were both dirty, starved and homeless and she took us in without a question," he stated with a smile on his lips. Vincent also seemed happy at the memory as he seemed more to exude a much warmer aura.

"So she was the one that raised you two?"

"For a while. Yes. But she was robbed and killed in the process, not long after," Kael replied morosely.

"Oh...I'm sorry,"

"It was life in the slums, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Tifa replied while her mind drifted back to her days in the beginning of AVALANCHE and her bar. Sometimes she found herself missing life then. She had really belonged to something there that made a big difference. Sighing, she continued to eat her breakfast.

"You grew up in the slums too?" Kael asked, disturbing the silence that had fallen.

"Not exactly. But I did live there. I owned a business," Tifa replied. Their conversation continued on like this. Personal, but nothing too personal. Kael had provided more background information on both him and Vincent in the short breakfast they had together than Vincent had ever told her during the years that she knew him. But that was Vincent.

It turned out that the brother's were half Wutain. Kael had said they lived in Wutai for a short period of time before "transferring" over to Midgar. The use of transferring caused natural curiosity to pique in Tifa, but Kael eluded her questions easily. So the brunette decided that this was not the time.

As everyone was finishing up, Tifa found herself really enjoying breakfast with the Valentine brothers. She still, however, found it difficult to understand their relationship. It was full of tension and yet it wasn't. They seemed to despise each other and yet they didn't.

The wince, however, coming from Vincent every once in a while because of his injury was a constant reminder of the task ahead of them. They needed to find out why these people were after Vincent and prepare for the possibility of another attack. But with Vincent awake and well enough, Tifa felt more at ease.

It was as if Vincent could read her mind. He cleared his throat and began business. Their first task was to identify the substance that are in the tranquilizers. That however, did not go as successfully as they hoped. Nanaki announced after almost a whole afternoon spent, that he could not identify the substance. But he did say how the substance reacted abnormally to the sample of Vincent's blood as he ran some tests, which was definitely not a good sign.

They day was pretty much up as Nanaki and a couple of helpers finished up the tests. The results were disappointing. They knew nothing. Or atleast, Tifa knew nothing. The Valentine brothers, however, held more information than they were letting on.

But it was late now, and Tifa could practically hear the bed calling to her. After taking a nice long shower, she began walking down the hall of Nanaki's home to her room for the moment. She paused however, upon passing the room that Vincent and Kael slept in. Yet again, she heard the murmurs of a heated discussion. She couldn't hear exactly what was being said between the two, but she could tell by the tones that slipped through the closed door that it was serious. The voices became clearer now, and before Tifa realized what was happening, the door flung open, banging against the other side of the wall, and out came Vincent. He was fuming and in his blind rage, he ran right into Tifa. She let out a small cry as his domineering form knocked her over. The look that Vincent shot her as she looked up to his face hurt, was frightening. His eyes seemed to gleam redder than normal. But instantly, almost as if upon recognition of what exactly happened, his eyes softened. But instead of helping her up, he turned on his heel and began a quick decent down the stairs. Kael soon followed outside the room and assessed the current situation in front of him.

"You selfish bastard!" He shouted after Vincent. The other Valentine did not acknowledge Kael's outburst at all. Tifa took the hand that Kael offered to help her up and watched as he ran after Vincent's retreating form. By the time Kael reached him, Vincent's hand was on the doorknob leading out to the streets of Cosmo Canyon. The older of the two grabbed Vincent's wrist in a death grip and pulled him forcefully away from the door, almost throwing him. Vincent responded with a near feral growl and shoved Kael back. Tifa could only watch, stunned.

Retaliating with a punch, Kael caught Vincent right in the jaw, causing him to stumble back a few steps. The exchange of physical abuse continued until Kael grabbed Vincent's right arm, precisely where the dart had hit him days ago. Vincent released a small cry of pain as he crumpled off of Kael and onto his side, weakly fighting against Kael's unfaltering grip.

With Vincent now writhing silently in pain, Kael took this unfortunate opportunity to speak.

"Hell, Vincent, listen to me. Don't do shit on your own. You remember the last time?" Kael asked. "Remember?" And with that Kael released Vincent's arm.

Breathing heavily, Vincent squeezed his eyes shut. Memories were flooding back to him. Memories of Hojo and what happened. He never could remember exactly what happened, but now they were more vivid than even his nightmares. And it instilled once again, a fear that was mentally buried deep inside him. The fear constricted his lungs and flooded his eyes with tears. He wanted to swat the tears that were forming in his eyes away before they rushed down his pale face, but someone beat him to it. He opened to his face a blurry image of someone with long hair.

_Lucrecia?_

_No, Tifa. _

She was hovering over him. Her long hair tickling his face and her hands on his cheeks wiping away the tears that threatened to spill down his face. He was trying to comprehend why she would want to touch someone like him. But his befuddled mind refused him. All that really mattered now was that there was someone here now to chase away those memories.

He lifted his hand and captured one of Tifa's in his own before falling unconscious.

* * *

After forever, i update...I have nothing to really say about this chapter, just that it took forever! TT 

So yeah, hope you guys enjoy! And I'm sorry bout it taking so long! Been busy and stuck at the same time. Thanks for all your reviews all the last chapter too! Greatly appreciated!

Bishojo Beauty


	16. Deal

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 16

Kael watched silently as the series of events unfolded before him. At one moment, he was completely pissed off at and the next, feeling despicable for the pain he wrought on his younger brother. Vincent could tear at his heart like no one else could. If only he could open up more and welcome help that was given to him. Vincent had earlier announced to Kael his decision to leave Cosmo Canyon on his own to find these perpetrators that were after him saying that he was too dangerous to be around. Kael recalled the conversation.

_"What are you doing?" Kael had asked. Vincent turned from his position on the floor, to face Kael who had walked into the room only to spot Vincent packing up his belongings. _

_"I'm leaving tonight," Vincent replied, "I'm dangerous." Kael however, did not see the two sides to what Vincent was saying. _

_"The hell you are. It's more like you're going to be in danger the moment to face them alone,"_

_Vincent sighed. "I can handle myself."_

_"Yeah, that's why you've been lying in bed for the most part of all of this,"_

_"Kael, this is a precaution," Vincent warned. "I'm leaving before anyone gets hurt," Again._

_"You mean Tifa?" Kael asked, cautiously. He figured that there was something going on between the two and if that was true, then Vincent would never readily admit it so early. Kael hoped that Vincent was not as blind as he seemed at times, and that he saw how good Tifa was. If Vincent was _that_ blind, then Kael would just simply have to do some prying into their business._

_After a while, the older of the two assumed that he was not going to get a reply to that question as Vincent had merely continued packing, methodically. _

_"I'm sure she knows the dangers and risks. Otherwise, she wouldn't be here right now," Kael tried. Kael began to feel like he was talking to a wall for all Vincent was saying back to him. _

_"Got enough room in there for me too?" He tried again, but in a lighter tone. And finally, he got a reply, though it was not what he was hoping for. _

_"No,"_

_"You're not going by yourself,"_

_"You're not going to stop me,"_

_Kael's quick temper flared at this moment. _

_"You can't do this alone, Vincent. If you have help, take it. You've suffered the consequences before," Kael practically shouted, " When are you going to learn?" Sometimes, Kael really hated his brother for being so stubborn. He had never really relied on anyone to get things done. He always found ways to do them himself, and if anyone offered help, he would be horribly stubborn and always refuse it, even when he desperately needed it. _

_It was just like the whole Lucrecia thing all over again. Except this time, Kael was here to intervene. _

_Kael was pulled out of his thoughts as Vincent spoke. "Take care of Tifa," was all he said before he started heading towards the door. _

_"You went in alone, and now look at you." Kael did not have to say anymore than this. This stopped Vincent dead on his tracks. Vincent understood him perfectly. He was talking about Vincent's original plan to confront Hojo. At first, Vincent had wanted to just confront Hojo about Lucrecia. But fortunately and unfortunately, Kael had incidentally stumbled upon his younger brother and Lucrecia together. Kael thwarted off Vincent's plans and proposed a more complicated, but more likely to be successful one. However, the end result was the same. The two brothers became live guinea pigs for Hojo to perform his sick experiments upon. _

_Though Kael didn't know exactly what happened to Vincent, it wasn't hard for him to figure out that Vincent had resorted to his original plan in the end. The golden claw was proof and a constant reminder of his actions. _

_"I'm going," Vincent responded, completely ignoring Kael's previous comment and began heading towards the door once again. _

_"The hell you are," Kael replied before making a grab at Vincent's bag. The other Valentine however was quicker and pulled it out of his reach before swinging the door open with more force than necessary. _

Thinking back on this conversation, Kael realized something. And this realization struck him hard enough to cause him to feel alarmed, and even show it through his well-trained stoic expression.

_Could Vincent have blamed himself for his disappearance? _Kael asked himself. _Maybe that's why he refused my help. _Kael swore at himself for being so ignorant. He had thought that Vincent was only being stubborn about doing things himself and not wanting the help of others. But in reality, he was afraid of getting help from other in fear that the other may get hurt.

He had only thought that he was afraid of hurting Tifa. But little did Kael know. That was only a fraction of the whole picture. A large fraction, but a fraction nonetheless. Vincent did feel responsible for what happened to Kael. Had he not dragged him into his problems, Kael would not have suffered what he did. Vincent never asked Kael though, what exactly happened to him, and Kael never asked Vincent. It was like an unspoken understanding. Neither of them wanted to ask. Neither of them wanted to know. They both held enough burdens of their own.

But it was clear as day now. Kael understood Vincent's actions now.

The older of the two brothers looked down at the pair below him. Tifa was gently stroking Vincent's hand which now lay over his stomach. He had hurt Vincent more than he had intended to during their brawl. He did not think that it would bring upon this though.

Padding of claws could be heard as Nanaki made his entrance. With bleary eyes, he took in his slightly wrecked livingroom. With a sleepy yawn however, he turned back the way he came.

-

After things were settled and Vincent was back in bed, Tifa decided to pay a visit to Kael and find out exactly what had happened between the two. She found Kael sitting in the window seat and looking up at the stars. She decided to join him.

At first, neither of them spoke. Each lost in their own thoughts. But their thoughts were concerning the same thing. Or rather, the same person. Vincent.

Tifa was about to speak. But Kael beat her to it. "I made a mistake," Tifa waited patiently for him to clarify.

"Vincent wanted to leave, you know. Tonight, so we weren't in 'danger'. I thought he was just being him, and not wanting anybody's help. But now that I look back at it. I think I was wrong,"

"I'm sure you were just trying to help him," Tifa replied to fill in the silence that followed and also to comfort Kael into continuing.

"I think he's actually afraid to get help, because in ways, he blames himself for what happened to me. I guess he doesn't want to involve anyone else in fear of losing them," Kael looked away from the stars now to stare at his hands instead. He was never really good at expression his feelings, but the Tifa's presence somehow made it easier.

"It's a risk that he has to be willing to take, I'm staying with him 'til the end," Tifa said quietly. Almost to herself. Kael looked up at her at this moment.

He opened his mouth to say something. But it seemed he reconsidered it as he closed them again. But in the end, his judgement lost. "Vincent doesn't see that. He's worried about you the most. I can tell. If he doesn't say it, then he means it," Kael said simply. He made it seem like Vincent was the easiest person to read. With that, retreated back to his bedroom, leaving Tifa to herself to think about what he had just said.

Vincent did care about her. Tifa smiled.

-

It was morning again. The days definitely seemed to pass just a little too fast. Their short visit to Cosmo Canyon had ended up as a week long stay.

The Valentine brothers had stayed to themselves so Nanaki was Tifa's only companion at the moment. Though they ate together for breakfast, lunch and dinner, they talked of nothing but leads on Chester and his men. After each meal, the two brothers would retreat to opposite sides of the house leaving Tifa and Nanaki to clean up. Not that Tifa minded. She was bored out of her mind.

It didn't surprise Tifa that she would end up doing the dishes this day as well. It was exactly a week now, and Tifa was becoming just a little too bored with the never changing routine. Sighing, she thought about what to make for dinner as she washed, rinsed, dried and put the dishes away. Once she was done, she looked for the proper ingredients for what she had planned for the night and found that she was lacking quite a few. She would have to do some grocery shopping today. _At least it's something to do,_ she thought to herself and then headed out the door.

Making her way out, she spotted a dark figure high in the mountains. The strong winds today picked up dark hair and threw it around in the wind. This figure was undoubtedly Vincent. He was sitting quite dangerously off near the edge, and Tifa couldn't help but fear that the strong winds would blow his frail figure right off. Tifa turned away and began to walk towards the market. But then stopped, she figured that a little visit to Vincent would not hurt. And then up the precariously steep hill she went.

She was almost near the top before she began to feel that her hand was slipping. In her alarm she let out a cry. Cursing as she tried to regain her grip, but the protruding rock that she had placed her foot on gave way. And then down she went, falling once again.

She felt a sharp tug on her one arm while she flung the other arm wildly in what seemed like an attempt to fly. Then she felt like she was really flying as she found herself hoisted up rather quickly. But soon after, she found herself once again on solid ground.

Vincent had saved her once again. And also, once again, they were within an awfully close proximity to each other. Tifa found herself blushing and forced herself to put some distance between them even though her body protested it.

"You should be more careful," he said in a soft tone. His tone wasn't scolding, it was more like...worrying.

Tifa smiled up at him, "I guess my climbing skills aren't as good as they used to."

"Used to?" Though not many words, it was really surprising to Tifa that she had received a response at all.

"Yeah, I used to be a tour guide back when I lived in Nibelheim,"

"Then Sephiroth happened,"

This reply shocked Tifa. She did not know that Vincent knew about her past.

"Yes," The brunette responded. Tifa had a feeling that she caught Vincent in one of his "brooding times". Tifa had noticed that in the past that certain times when she talked to him, though they were few, he would have moment when he would be awfully depressing, and other times, he would be thoughtful and insightful.

"How'd you know though?" Tifa asked.

"There are few people who do not know of the Nibelheim incident,"

"Well, since you know so much about me, how about we make it even and let me know more about you?" Tifa suggested hopefully. Despite how long they've known each other and how much more Tifa had seen of Vincent within the past few weeks, Vincent was still an enigma to her.

A long pause followed her questioned making Tifa feel uncomfortable.

"What do you wish to know?" The question in his smooth and low voice almost caused her to jump after such a long pause.

"Uhm..." Tifa hadn't exactly thought about what she would ask. She didn't exactly expect Vincent to oblige to her suggestion. Then again, she sometimes found Vincent to be quite unpredictable.

"Well...Why do you keep your hair so long?" Tifa cursed herself the moment the question left her lips. _Stupid question!_

A mere shrug was all she got for an answer. Now Tifa felt like she wasted a perfectly good opportunity to ask him something more worth hearing. Or seeing in this case.

"Can I ask you another question?" Tifa asked, suddenly her voice much smaller than she remembered it. She decided to take a risk and ask since the worst Vincent could do was deny her. Right?

"You may," _So proper, _Tifa observed.

"Do you miss home?" It was the only thing she could think of asking at the moment as memories of her home at Nibelheim flowed through her mind as she thought back on her days as a guide.

"Do you?" He responded.

"Yes I do, but that's not an answer to my question,"

Another long pause followed. Tifa turned to face Vincent in hopes to figure out what he was thinking. He sat with a pensive frown on his face and his eyes were slightly glazed over.

"Vincent?" Tifa asked attentively, she did not want Vincent going off too far in his thoughts and memories. He turned to her then. His crimson eyes bearing something of a semblance to sadness in them. Though it was very faint, Tifa saw it.

"I don't remember ever having a home," He responded solemnly, turning his eyes away now. Tifa began to fidget once again in the silence. She had definitely asked the wrong question. She tugged at her shirt, brushed away dirt on her bare knees and examined her shoes. She was starting to run out of things to do. She brushed the hair that whipped against her face from the wind and then glanced at her watch.

"Oh, shoot!" Tifa shouted before jumping up from where she sat. Vincent eyes were trained on her, questioning.

"I didn't realize what time it was! I was supposed to go grocery shopping!" Tifa panicked, glancing at her watch again and trying to plan out the most time efficient way to obtain all of her necessary ingredients from the nearby market. Time had passed quicker than she had thought. It seemed to her that the seconds were ticking away like minutes. But she was definitely wrong.

"Want to come, Vincent?" She waited patiently at first for an answer, but he merely continued observing her. Tifa became unsure of whether he had heard her at all.

"Come on, Vincent. Let's go! I'll race you down!" Tifa shouted before racing towards the edge of the cliff. This got Tifa a reply from Vincent.

"Tifa, be careful!" There was a slight alarm in his voice. But that was the last thing she really heard. She absolutely loved hearing her name from his lips. Smiling and waving a little goodbye, she began her decent down the hill. A few quick steps lower and an idea struck her.

"Whoever's the last one down does the dishes tonight!" She shouted up to the top where she spotted Vincent just looking down on her. She really hoped that Vincent wouldn't beat her. She did not mind doing the dishes, but it was getting a little repetitive. A little help would be nice.

A couple more steps down, she looked up again only to spot Vincent just starting to get down off the ledge of the cliff. Feeling confident, Tifa picked up her pace.

Oddly, not long after, Tifa felt grains of sand and small pebbles begin to rain down upon her. Looking up once more she watched in awe as Vincent pretty much hopped down the cliff with precision and speed. It wasn't long before he stopped himself right next to her, a couple feet away.

"Loser carries the groceries, does the dishes and makes breakfast in the morning," Vincent proposed to her. His eyebrow was cocked slightly in question. Smiling, Tifa decided to take a little risk and leaped off from her position against the wall. Vincent eyes widened in surprise and widened even more as he felt a sudden weight on his back. He heard a voice whisper in his ear.

"Deal,"

And then the burden on his back was gone. Tifa had used him as a stepping stone to get onto the ledge on the side of the cliff that led directly down to the market square.

Tifa, now on solid ground, sprinted as fast as she could, leaving Vincent behind to watch her retreating form.

* * *

Whew! Done! But of course more to come! Hehe, poor Vincent! I hope everything's okay in this chapter. It's really late, and I'm really tired. But i couldn't not finish this tonight and submit it! 

Anyhow,hope ya'll enjoyed! (And of course, thanks to all those who've reviewed the last chapter! It's always appreciated! I look forward to more thoughts and suggestions)

Bishojo Beauty

Oh, and i changed the summary for the story. I think it's more accurate now...if it's better i dunno. But more accurate? Yes!

And a possible title change may happen too!


	17. So Close

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 17

Tifa had won the bet. And Vincent suffered the consequences of his loss. Tifa had bought so much that he began to think that she was doing all of it intentionally. Amongst all of it was even a watermelon of all things. But everything was always forgotten upon the smile she flashed him each time their eyes met. Though he would never admit.

The trip back home was in silence, but not that either of them minded at all. The silence was actually quite welcoming after going through the noisy and busy market. To be able to walk in a straight line and not be bumped and sometimes tripped was definitely something to be appreciated after leaving the crowded area.

Glancing at the sun, Tifa could tell that it was nearing dinner time already.

"Looks like dinner's going to be a little late tonight," she sighed, not really expecting a reply.

"No, I will help,"

"Huh?" Tifa felt like she heard wrong.

"I will help," Vincent repeated.

"That wasn't part of the deal,"

"Does everything have to be a deal?"

"No, I didn't mean it like that," Tifa replied hurriedly. She did not want Vincent to think of her wrong.

Nodding behind the large mound of food piled in his arms, he replied. "I know, Tifa."

The brunette then turned to face Vincent and caught a strange gleam in his eyes. If the bags were not as high in his arms as they were, Tifa could have sworn Vincent was smiling. Maybe not an all out smile, but a small, satisfying one.

"So how do I know you won't burn anything?" Tifa inquired teasingly.

"I cooked breakfast for you once, did I not?" He questioned back.

"True, and I hope we won't have any broken dishes this time around?"

"Hn," was all Vincent said. Tifa wasn't sure if she could really take that as a reply. But one this was for sure now though. Vincent was smiling. He could not help it. He was quite fond of that memory. One of the first good ones after he awoke from his atoning sleep.

"Are you smiling, Vincent Valentine?"

"Perhaps," he said, before speeding up a little too easily, considering the weight in his arms, away from Tifa, and back home.

-

Dinner was took it's usual course, but this time with a much larger variety in food that no one at the table did not enjoy.

Tifa almost felt bad for making Vincent do the dishes as he had his metal arm shoved into a rubber glove, and each dish was held in an awkward position. Occasionally, a dish would slip and plunk back into the sink, but Vincent did not seem deterred by this at all. He merely picked it up without hesitance or frustration and began to wash it once more as if nothing happened.

Tifa also noticed how he kept flinging his head off to the side in a poor attempt to remove his hair from his eyes. Sighing from where she stood, Tifa made her way over to his side. Once there, she brushed his hair back for him. His eyes darted to hers and then back down at the dishes again. As he did this, his rebellious strands fell back down again.

Tifa giggled at this. "Let me tie it up for you,"

Vincent merely turned to look at her. He did not reply. They stayed like this for a while before Tifa pulled the hair tie off her wrist and held it up for him to see. Now he nodded his consent.

So Tifa moved to Vincent's back and began to gather the dark silky strands, running her hands through them in attempt to tame the unruly tresses. Vincent let out a small sigh as her fingers brushed across his skin, once in a while. He almost jerked physically as he snatched himself mentally from believing that someone had wanted to actually be closer to him. He ached for human contact so much, and yet he refused himself of it.

He wanted, so badly this time however to just let go. He wanted to see and finally believe that someone could see him as the real person he is and not the monster that he was often mistaken for.

A couple of quick tugs on his hair pulled him out of his daze as Tifa finished up with his hair.

"There we go," she announced as she made her way back to his side. She turned to look up to his face that was now completely revealed.

"Thank you,"

Tifa smiled in return. She couldn't find her voice as she was once again lost in the absolute beauty that was Vincent. For the first time, she had seen him awake, and without hair or anything else covering his features. His eyes were glowing a deep shade of red under the warm kitchen lighting. She was lost in them.

She, however, was not the only one lost in the eyes of another as Vincent peered deeply into hers as well. Her features were soft, her skin was vibrant, and her lips...

Vincent tried to stop himself, but he could not. His body wanted this. His body longed for this. But his mind fought against it. So he just stood, unmoving, lost within the internal battle between his body and his mind.

Tifa, on the other hand, was a little more brave. But very hesitant still. She was not sure of what Vincent's reaction would be. But she was sure as hell wanting to take the risk of finding out. She kept her eyes trained on his as she moved in closer. His eyes stayed on her, never changing, so Tifa moved closer. And closer. And closer still. Finally, there was a change.

His eyes fluttered closed and Tifa's soon followed. The space between them was then closed by Vincent.

Their lips met for the briefest second sending multitudes of sensations across their bodies. But they were cut off as Kael's voice sounded. "This watermelon's so sweet, mind if I grab some more...?"

The older Valentine trailed off as his eyes darted between the two, who were now standing at opposite sides of the room. Vincent kept his back to his brother to hide the blush that was creeping up onto his pale cheeks while Tifa watched him accusingly. He smiled and winked at her before he turned to leave, forgetting about the watermelon.

So close.

* * *

Short chapter, I know! But it's not so bad so long as more is coming right? 

And long or short reviews matter not to me. So long as you're submitting a review, then I'm happy to read your thoughts!

Anyhow, more to come and I hope ya'll enjoyed! And my b-day is tomorrow! So I hope all of you enjoy this chapter as I celebrate my b-day! Review lots and make me happy, cause each review brings a smile and lots of joy to me!

Bishojo Beauty


	18. Gone

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 18

After the incident in the kitchen, Vincent avoided Tifa like the plague. Not that he wanted to. Tifa also had a mix of emotions. She knew that she was beginning to fall for Vincent, but at the same time, she couldn't help but really question herself about it. But based on what she felt alone, during their brief kiss, was enough to erase all doubts and worries.

At this moment, Tifa was in the living room reading a rather boring book, but it was much more interesting than anything else she could be doing at the moment. Vincent and Kael were outside, having a "friendly" duel. Sighing loudly, Tifa found her thoughts, once again, drifting off to Vincent. She was getting no where in the book. She read the same page, over and over again for the past half hour and it was starting to get frustrating. Somehow, one way or another, Vincent was always able to wind himself into her thoughts.

Finally having enough, Tifa slammed the book shut with a dull thud and decided to find something else to pass her time with.

-

Vincent twisted off to the side with less time than he liked to have available to avoid Kael's fist. Another one came flying, and Vincent raised his right arm to deflect it this time. The exchange of punches continued for a while, with none of them connecting. Kicks were now thrown in and Vincent launched a high kick towards Kael's head. He succeeded in throwing his older brother off, and took the opportunity to catch him in a headlock from behind that allowed him to break his neck with little effort.

"Don't think you'll be so lucky next time," was all Kael said before another duel began. This time, Kael began throwing unrelenting high kicks. Being former Turks, they were trained in many different forms of fighting. But the form they found most useful was simply a mix of anything more formal and street. Their "clients" were always ones to be playing dirty.

Vincent began to lead by two wins, but they were interrupted by loud crashes of broken glass, snapping wood, and one gunshot sounding loudly in contrast of the peaceful day. Before another sound reached their ears, Vincent and Kael had already picked up their equipment and began racing back to Nanaki's home, full speed. Vincent was soon smashing through the front door with a flying kick and landed in a crouch on top of the now unhinged door. Kael followed, rolling in, and also stopping in a low crouch. The two brothers quickly signaled to each other and went silently, but quickly through the kitchen and towards the back of the house.

They reached a small sun room, and through the glass, Vincent spotted a man. Immediately Vincent pulled out his Death Penalty. One of the good habits from being a Turk was definitely that of always having your weapon by your side, no matter the circumstances. But there were times when he did not have it. Those were times he wished to forget, and learn a lesson from at the same time.

The two brothers heard a shout sounding from the kitchen in which they just passed. They had just been spotted. Swearing mentally, Vincent opened fire at the man seen through the window while Kael automatically took care of he man behind them. They both dropped dead simultaneously.

Their presence was now known, so Vincent felt no hesitation to burst out through the back of the house and out into the backyard. He halted quickly however upon the sight which befell upon him. Kael soon followed.

Tifa was being held with a gun to her head by a masked man who was clearly working for Chester.

"Don't try anything," the masked man warned. With that said, Vincent's mind still worked furiously in hopes to find a safe way to get Tifa out of that man's arms in into his.

_Yes, into my arms. _

He could not and would not allow himself to stand by and watch any further. He had lost one woman he cared about, he was not about to add a second. But there did not seem to be a way out of this.

"What are you planning to do? If you want an exchange, then it will be done," Vincent asked. Vincent got no response. The man seemed flustered though.

So Vincent decided to try to bargain again with him. "I will spare your life if you release her. That's the deal,"

"Bullshit," the man spat back. At this, Vincent and Kael held up their hands in an act of submission, and began to slowly lower their selves. Eventually the brothers slid their guns toward this man. However, unexpectantly to all, Vincent leaped forward after Death Penalty, rolled to a stop with his gun back in hand and released one shot. The single bullet found its way into the gun hand of the man, rendering his hand completely useless.

Tifa was let free, and Kael dove into action as well. With a flying tackle he took the man down, and Vincent dove for Tifa. They landed in a tumble in which Vincent tried to cushion as much of it as possible for Tifa.

"Tifa, are you okay?" Vincent looked to her with a worried look, when they finally landed and were safe. Blood from the man's hand was splattered all over her face. Her eyes were wide as she turned towards him. Suddenly, a look of fury slammed down.

"Have you gone insane! You could have shot me!"

Vincent did not have a reply for her. He just did not know what to say to make her feel better. He had been in tighter situations, and he had never failed. He knew he was not going to miss, as arrogant of a thought it was. It was true. Especially now with the enhancements that Hojo had given him.

"Tifa..." Vincent began, but only ended up trailing off. He still did not know what to say, so he opted to just let things go as they may. Kael was able to get a solid hold down onto the man, pulling off his mask to reveal a pretty normal looking guy. From what Vincent could see, interrogation was already taking place. Turning his attention away from his brother as it was apparent that he pretty much had things under control, he looked down at Tifa who was shaking slightly from the close encounter. The brunette was used to battle, but she had never had someone who was holding a gun at her head shot at with barely any hesitation at all. Even though it was Vincent, Tifa could help but feel shaken.

Vincent wanted to say something, or do something to make Tifa feel better. But comforting was definitely not one of his strong points. He tried to conjure up something to do, but his mind downright refused him. Finally, he figured to wipe the now whimpering man's blood off of her face. But the only problem was that he had nothing to do wipe it with, which confirmed that he was certainly not good at these sorts of things. He was sure that if he and Kael had switched positions, his older brother would have already had Tifa clean as a whistle and smiling once again. Not dirty with another man's blood splattered on her face, and trembling in fear.

Tifa looked over to Vincent, finally able to tear herself away from the fear that overwhelmed her body. As she studied his expression, she identified it as his thinking or brooding expression. She assumed that it was over her. He probably regretted it.

She slapped him in the arm gently and giggled. "Don't be so hard on yourself. I am alive and he's well, not doing so great, right?" She tried to quench her fear, just at least for Vincent's sake.

Vincent's brows furrowed further at her exclamation. He really did admire Tifa's optimistic attitude. She was no long in fear of the events that had just happened. She was not clean, but definitely smiling again. Perhaps, Vincent realized, he did not have to actually do anything but be himself to make Tifa smile.

"Inside. There's blood on your face," Vincent stated quietly after clearing his throat. This earned him a giggle from Tifa. She did not expect him to be so blunt about it.

"What?" Vincent could help but ask, curious to know what she found so amusing.

"Nothing," Tifa smiled, "Let's go."

And in they went. As soon as they reached the kitchen, Vincent busied himself by looking for a clean cloth for her to wipe her face. But she stopped him.

"Don't worry about it. I'll just shower,"

Vincent opened his mouth as if he was going to say something in objection, but he closed it and just nodded instead. He turned soon after to watch Tifa's retreating form, bounding up the stairs.

His thoughts then turned to Kael and the man who was now their captive. As Vincent thought of this, the man appeared before him in the kitchen. He was thrown onto the ground by Kael who was hovering over him, menacingly.

"He won't talk," Kael said, while delivering a light kick to the man's side. He wasn't quite in the mood to be true brutal. Yet.

Sighing, Vincent signaled for Kael to bring him into a more private room. It was almost like being a Turk all over again. He hated it, but it had to be done.

-

The shower was a warm welcome to Tifa after how dirty she had become over such a short period of time. She made her way back down the stairs, now dressed in a form fitting t-shirt, and hip-hugging cotton pants to find no one except Nanaki.

Nanaki had luckily been out for a stroll when everything happened. He was too far away from home to realize, but now he was back and he seemed not one bit confused. Tifa figured he must have been informed by one of the Valentine brothers. _Speaking of the brothers..._

"Where's Vincent?" Tifa asked.

"Interrogating one of Chester's men,"

"Oh, I see," Tifa replied. Then silence fell between them as they waited for the Valentine brothers to reappear. Both of them hoping that they would finally get some answers to all of their questions.

It was later, rather than sooner, the Valentine brothers reemerged. Tifa and Nanaki looked to them expectantly. The two brothers looked drained, a slightly paler than usual. They also had blood on their clothes, hands, and shoes.

"So what did you guys find out?" Nanaki asked.

"Enough," Kael responded. He was turning slightly into Vincent for all he was diverging.

"Where's the man now?" Tifa asked. She was, in a way, hoping to get one hit at the man for holding a gun to her head. But judging from the amount of blood present on the two men before her, she could tell that he probably had enough of a beating for the day.

"We let him go. He has family," The older Valentine said lowly. Neither of the two brothers wanted another death pinned to their sins.

"We'll talk tomorrow," Vincent finally spoke up. Everyone nodded in agreement. They all, except Nanaki of course, had enough for the day.

One by one, they retired to bed.

But Tifa could not sleep. And neither could Vincent, presumably, as she found him sitting in the living room with his head resting back and eyes focused on the ceiling. But when she approached him, they became trained on her.

"Couldn't sleep?" Tifa asked for a lack of better things to say. Vincent shook his head in response, but did not say anything.

Since she didn't really get a response. But Tifa pretended she did, and continued on. "I couldn't either."

"I'm sorry. I should not of had--"

"No!" Tifa found herself practically shouting. She calmed herself before she decided to speak again.

"You saved my life again. I should be thanking you,"

"Don't,"

"Then don't blame yourself," Tifa countered. A long pause followed. A lot of long pauses usually followed their conversations. But this one was the first of all of them to be quite uncomfortable. She watched as Vincent bit his lip in contemplation with whatever he was thinking about at the moment. He opened his mouth to speak, but it was quite awhile before he actually spoke. But when he did, he surprised Tifa.

"Deal," was all he said as his eyes slid back to hers. She could swear now, really, that there was a quirk in Vincent's lips. A sign of an oncoming smile.

"Deal," Tifa replied before joining him on the couch. They enjoyed each other's company after that with light conversation. Nothing too deep, or personal. And soon, Tifa fell asleep without even realizing it. Vincent took it upon himself then, to see to it that she would wake up in a warm bed tomorrow.

And that she did. As her awareness came back to her through her sleep fogged mind, she realized that she was no longer downstairs on the couch. _Vincent. _She thought, and it was enough to bring a smile to her face. She skipped down the stairs happily, excited to start a new day after an exceptionally good night. Tifa had really enjoyed talking to Vincent. He had a very different outlook on all things in life, and she enjoyed listening to him talk. But it was surely, more enjoyable for him to hear her talk as she had undoubtedly spoken more than he did.

As she reached the kitchen, she couldn't help but be a bit disappointed to not find Vincent there. She did find Nanaki, and she said a cheerful good morning to him. But his reply was undeniably not as cheerful. He greeted her with two words. And these two words filled her stomach with dread.

"They're gone,"

* * *

End of chapter! Arhhh, I don't find this chapter too too great. But, it's workable...there's more coming, i have a lot written actually, i just have to proof read... Anyhow, I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter. 

Bishojo Beauty


	19. No Promises

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 19

His heart had told him to not leave Tifa, while his mind told him to do so. _For her safety. _He had repeated to himself over and over again. But not once did it convince his heart. In the end, however, his mind won over his heart.

Though he turned Tifa away, he had however, accepted the help of Kael, and together, the two brothers set out to set Chester right. They had gotten enough answers from the man they interrogated. It wasn't the most pleasant nor was it the most brutal interrogation of a captive, but the man had refused to talk. Eventually, they were able to crack him, and from his confessions, they should be making their way to Junon, where Chester's men gathered. Apparently, there was an underground tunnel in Junon that supposedly led to some lab. Who Chester worked for, the man did not know, what his purpose was, the man was clueless on as well. Vincent figured that whoever other man was, he was definitely somehow connected to Hojo. Otherwise, there would be no way that such a serum that was found in the tranquilizers was able to be obtained. Hojo was the only one that knew the details of what was conducted on Vincent.

Vincent was sure of this. Only because he remembered.

The bruises.

They were one in the same with the bruises he remembered obtaining every time Hojo injected him with that _substance. _

Vincent silently wondered if Kael had gone through similar experiments as he did. It was evident though, that if he did, he did not experience anything to the extent that Vincent did. Kael's eyes were still it's normal honey brown as opposed to Vincent's blood red ones. The older of the two still seemed to have retained most of his old self, while Vincent became infested by beasts that seemed to feed on his very soul. Also Vincent took on a more 'vampiric', as everyone liked to call it, complexion, while Kael kept his Wutaiin paleness. There were many questions Vincent wanted to ask his older brother, but equally as many he would never ask.

There was one question though, that he just had to ask. He had to know in order to atone for his sins. He had to know whether he had also wronged his own brother.

"Kael," Vincent called out. His older brother turned to him the way he always did when Vincent called his name. Vincent knew he had his brother's full attention now. At realizations such as this one, Vincent came to appreciation that his brother had ever taken upon himself to look after his brother so. Never once did Kael not put Vincent first. Kael had explained once when they were younger that it was his wish that it be this way.

They stood there silently for a while. It felt like old times again, and both of them relished in nostalgia. Vincent's rarely hesitating voice however broke that silence.

"Do you ever regret coming with me...that night?" Vincent asked, averting his eyes to the horizon as he took a couple of steps off the path in the forest. He felt awkward asking.

Kael let out a long sigh before answering with a simple, "No."

"Why?" Vincent had to know.

Yet another sigh, and a pause followed. But Kael answered. "Choices that I've made in the past are over and done with. I don't see the point in dwelling on them and regretting them,"

"But you do regret it,"

"I didn't say that,"

"You're implying it,"

"This is getting no where,"

"No, I got my answer,"

"Vincent,"

"..."

Kael let out a loud sigh of frustration. But smiled. Though he knew his brother was misunderstanding him, he couldn't help but feel glad to know that someone underneath what Hojo had done to him, a part of Vincent was still alive. His cursed stubbornness and his tendency to jump to conclusions. Kael seethed a little longer before he decided to change the subject.

"So, where exactly are we headed?"

Basically, the Valentine brothers had two choices. 1. To go to Costa del Sol and catch a boat over to Junon, or 2. To head for Rocket Town and ask Cid to borrow the Highwind. The choice was obvious for Vincent. He did not want to involve more people that he needed. Luckily, he had been able to buy Chocobos off of other travelers with more money than Vincent preferred.

It would take them an estimated day and a half to reach Costa del Sol if they stopped only to eat and sleep. It was now nearing the end of the first day, and nothing had happened since they had left. The sun was bright, and the winds were calm. Not many monsters decided to approach the two. Perhaps, even they were afraid of the monsters that lurked within Vincent.

The two were looking for a place to rest for the night, when they both spotted something move out of the corner of their eyes. In an instant, they had their guns drawn and ready to fight. Whatever it was that they saw noticed that it had been spotted as it froze.

"Show yourself!" Kael called out. At first, the shadow in the forest did not move, and for a split second, the two brothers doubted their instincts. But they knew they were right. They watched as the figure slowly revealed itself.

Tifa.

She was covered in dirt, and was breathing heavily as if she had run a mile. It was a possibility that the two brothers were not about to rule out.

"Tifa, you should not be here," Vincent stated, his eyes never leaving hers. She couldn't help but feel it unnerving to be receiving his gaze like so. Something about it, Tifa knew was not good.

"I couldn't let you go alone, Vincent. Let me come with you," She pleaded. And for the longest time, Vincent remained quiet.

"I cannot do that,"

"Vincent, please," the brunette tried again. She crossed her fingers behind her back as Vincent began to approach her in slow, but deliberate steps. When he reached her, he stopped so that he was standing practically right above her. Tifa felt increasingly uncomfortable now. It was a different kind of uncomfortable from what she used to feel when she first met him.

"I will not sin again,"

Tifa realized now what was different about him. He was angry. Tifa had never once seen him angry before. In pain, in anguish, in anything, but anger.

But there was no way she was going to turn back now. And Vincent was just going to have to see that.

"I will not die on you, Vincent," Tifa said with a wink, "I promise." With that, she walked around his stunned form and towards Kael. But before she could make it any further than two steps, she was stopped by cold digits encircling around her wrist. She turned around to face him.

"No need from promises, I will not let you die," It was Vincent's turn now to walk around a stunned Tifa.

* * *

Yay! Chapter complete!

But I must apologize for how long it's taken me to right this. I was stuck for a while. But suddenly I was struck with this idea, and here it is!

Thanks to all of those who've read, and if you're still enjoying this, thanks for sticking by. Really, thanks.

Bishojo Beauty


	20. Escape

**He Tells All**

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 20

Minutes passed like years. Hours passed like decades. Each filled with more silence than the last. Tifa glanced over at her companion and sighed soundly. She was horribly bored of the silent conversation that was taking place. Not that the silence wasn't a nice peaceful thing. It was in the beginning. But now, it was deafening.

Kael had announced early in the day that he was going to scout ahead while the two of them continued _together._ He seemed to place a certain amount of emphasize on that word. The brunette could have sworn that she saw a devilish gleam in his eye as he left.

Unfortunately for all Vincent said, Tifa might as well be walking by herself in the dense forest. Again, Tifa sighed loudly.

-

Eleven. He counted eleven sighs that had escaped her lips since Kale had decided to "scout ahead". He silently cursed his brother's thinking. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Tifa's serene face or rather extremely...bored face.

Vincent had always found himself unable to start a decent conversation. Even in his Turk days. It was a wonder how he had ever gotten Lucrecia to speak to him in the first place.

_Lucrecia..._

It suddenly hit him that she had been almost completely absent from his thoughts since he started his journey with Tifa. Vincent had no trouble identifying the reason.

Thoughts of Tifa constantly plagued his mind day and night. No matter how hard he tried to force them out of his head, his thoughts were always able to sneak past the barrier he built. Just like Tifa did in reality. No matter how hard he tried to not let her in, she had somehow made it.

After his first taste of human contact after all those years of isolation, he found himself craving it like one would crave nicotine. His body, despite his mind's orders betrayed him as he found himself wanting to be near her. Touching her. But he could not let that happen. He was a monster that deserved to rot alone in his own hell. And yet, Tifa gave him hope. Her smile, her voice, her eyes, her lips against his. Everything about her made him feel like a being worthy of having another chance at life. At love.

A sigh reached his ears and disrupted his train of thoughts. Twelve. That was twelve sighs. He could not stand it any longer. Each sigh tore at his heart as he knew that he was the cause of it all.

Clearing his throat, he parted his lips in hope to start a conversation. But his throat seemed to close up and his brain ceased functioning.

He swore mentally. He felt like he was in grade school again, trying to talk to his crush for the first time. Vincent felt like slapping himself.

"We should be nearing Junon soon," Vincent cursed at himself as those words left his tongue.

_Stupid conversation starter._ Vincent thought to himself. Why couldn't he be like everyone else and ask her how her day was, or if she slept well. No, he had to be a cold emotionless bastard that didn't _do_ conversation. He watched as Tifa cocked her head in his direction and regarded him with a blank expression.

Tifa was not entirely sure Vincent had said something. With the trees rustling loudly in the background and Vincent's low voice, it was a wonder Tifa had heard anything coming from Vincent at all.

"Pardon?" She asked.

"Junon, it's approaching," Vincent replied in his monotone voice.

"Oh," was all she was able to say before she was stopped in her tracks by the sudden proximity of Vincent. When she felt his flesh hand resting on her shoulder, her mind began to race with thoughts of what Vincent was up to. Thoughts of the night of their first kiss began to float around in her head. Despite how short it was, it left a lasting sensation physically and mentally.

As Tifa lifted her eyes to meet his, she found that his attention was not focused on her, but on something in the distance. She couldn't help but feel disappointed, but the feeling was soon overcome by anxiety as she continued to regard Vincent's unwavering gaze at the distance.

"What is it?" Tifa asked in a whisper. Vincent placed a golden finger to his lips in response. He was clearly hearing something.

"We have to run," he finally stated firmly, his hand leaving her shoulder. The sudden move left Tifa feeling cold. But Tifa pushed her current thoughts of Vincent aside and focused on the current situation.

Tifa began to move quickly through the dense forest in the direction that Vincent pointed. She trusted him completely as he had proved his skills time and time again during their AVALANCHE days. His instincts got them out of more than enough tight encounters.

"What is it?" Tifa asked again, this time much more demanding. She hated not knowing what she was up again. Even if it did nothing more than strike fear in her.

"Tifa," Vincent started, his voice taking on an unfamiliar tone. She turned to look him in the face. And what she saw in his eyes confirmed what she heard in his voice.

Fear.

Once again, his hand was on her. This time gripping her almost painfully around the elbow. They weren't moving now, and Tifa watched Vincent as he twisted his head around with his eyes scanning the deep forest surrounding them.

"Run!" Was all he said before he pulled her along with him, forcing her to run as fast as she could just to keep up with Vincent's pace. Vincent soon allowed her to take the lead and she was almost grateful as she could now hear what Vincent must have heard earlier. It was a deep rumbling that was with out a doubt only made possible by a large beast. And considering the how constant it was, Tifa felt safe to think that there was more than one. The sound grew louder and louder despite the speed at which the pair of them were running. The beast was no doubt nearing them. She turned her head in hopes to catch a glance of how close the beast was, but stopped in mid-turn as Vincent's voice sounded loudly behind her.

"Don't look back! Run!" The alarm in his voice made her legs move faster and carry her further if that was even possible. Tree branches whipped again her from head to toe, but that was the least of her worries. She could feel the ground trembling beneath her now. She tried to pick up her pace.

It wasn't much further until Tifa felt her legs give out beneath her. She felt a jolt and figured she must have hit the ground already, but when she opened her eyes, in which she did not realize she closed, she met the sky instead of the muddy ground below her.

She was...flying.

Luckily for Tifa, Vincent had been able to reach her as he made a desperate grasp for her and launched himself into the trees as best as he could under the circumstances. It was far below his expectations but it sufficed as he extended his golden claw and dug deep into a tree branch, using it was leverage to swing the two of them higher into the trees. When he was satisfied with their level of safety, he looked below to see not one, but seven rather deformed behemoths stomping over the ground they were occupying not even two seconds ago.

He turned to face Tifa's wide-eyed expression as she watched the beast pass below her.

"Were those behemoths?" She asked. She was positive they did not look quite like that the last time she encountered one.

"Yes. Most likely the work of Hojo," He paused. "We must be near." Tifa nodded in response, her eyes still not leaving the ground below them. It was a very narrow escape.

* * *

Yay! I finally updated! I must apologize for how long this one took. It should have been done earlier considering I had this written before but I didn't feel pleased with it at the time. I wrote this like 5 times, each one not even similar to this one. But yeah, I've been having difficulty getting anything down lately. Writer's block ya know?

But yeah, thank you all for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

Let me know how I did kay?

Bishojo Beauty


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